Friends Reunited

Front right is Bill, a cast iron duck I bought at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson when I visited the United States of America in 1979. Closest to him is Plato, a brass duck with glass eyes bought for me by a friend visiting Greece many years before I ever did. Back right is Adonis, the Cycladic bronze I bought in Skopelos around Christmas and beside him a pair of swans I bought at a very rare bring-and-buy Christmas fare in Glossa just a handful of years ago. Frontish leftish are three nameless pottery birds which came from London goodness knows how many years ago. Back centre is a mirror from Morocco I bought in 1985 and in front of that a glass pomegranate from Thessaloniki in 2012. Then there is a little brass saily boat from Hastings last Sunday and my big ibis (?) from a market stall in South East London many years ago (though not as many years as the ceramic birds). Next to the ibis are wobbly cat and fally-down cat and beside them, Blippo and Towie. Right at the back is Spike, a gift from an Australian former colleague.

Towie has never met the rest of them before because they had already been boxed and palletised before I found her on Kastani beach. Now that she has completed her task of posing with washing powder she will be renamed Cast Annie to be in better alignment with all the other cast ducks and as a nod of recognition to where she was found.

Friends Reunited was, I believe, the very first social media platform, long since overtaken by Facebook and all the others. I am finding that even though Blipfoto is the only platform I use that could possibly be described as social media, my real life friends are rallying around sending me adverts for relevant jobs they find on LinkedIn, GlassDoor, Indeed etc. There is a wealth of jobseeking sites that didn't exist back when I . . .