It was roughly ten years ago. A cold night around November time. A number of us had been out for an evening and we had gathered on the shared balcony between flats.

We few of us knew eachother that well. I have little recollection of the complete list of names but there were some that definitely featured and some that probably did. Beccy, Little Andy, Jonathan, Anthony, Donal, Ness, Big Andy, Roger the Lodger, Pounds Pants, Nick the * , Hairy Jon, Hedi the mental Israeli, Yasmin...and no doubt others through the course of the evening. I had been friends with a different crowd for the first two years of my degree and having completed their course, they left and I was trying to find my feet once more.

So, here we all were outside in the cold. Yasmin disappeared off to hospital with what we thought was an asthma attack (it happened regularly) and the rest of us settled down on the ice cold floor with mugs of Donal's hot blackcurrant, made to the strictest of instructions. So many different types of people, from so many different places, with so many different experiences. We decided to see the sun rise over the adjoining field, so as alcohol warmth bled away, duvets and blankets were fetched. I remember talking with security as they wandered around the site, surprised each time that we were still there. Teasing us with their warm coats and hot drinks. One by one we fell by the wayside, leaving only Roger the Lodger and I out there. It was something like 6am before wet blankets and icy fingers got the better of us and we retreated inside to watch from the warmth of the storage heaters.

It appears now to be a reflection of how life was going to go. Everyone eventually falls by the wayside. The northerners went back up North, Hedi probably terrorising someone else by now. I still hear from a few, although not many now. Marriages, births etc tend to bring a mail or a phone call. As age sets in people build their lives and disappear. I thought at the time, like most people probably do, that I was making friends who would be there for life. And now another one drifts off to another part of the world, I am wondering who is left?