Friends are the new family

Today M visited the physio in Stirling community hospital. She was so pleased with his progress that she does not want to see him for another three weeks.  To celebrate we all went for lunch in the Smith Museum and gallery.
 
This was made possible because our good friend Ann, ( pictured in the museum) had provided transport. She has a SUV big enough to accommodate M who still can’t bend his leg following a recent accident.
 
It made me realise that in today’s world 
friends are the new family. Both our families are “down south”. However well-meaning they are not able to help.
My friendship with Ann goes back many years. We once took part in a medical research project to monitor the effect of exercise on middle aged women.  I was working on the Glasgow Herald at the time, and I was assigned to both write about it and take part. Organised by Hairmyres hospital, the project involved taking 30 women recruited through the newspaper, who were then put through a running programme for three months culminating in a 10k race in Glasgow in aid of the local hospice.( I am on the far right).
It operated on a buddy system and Ann and I, who happened to be neighbours, became buddies and ran daily .
 
At the end of the three months all of us showed our health had improved, measured by cardiovascular fitness, drop in both cholesterol levels and weight.
 
Today that medical research is in the history of exercise on women.