Facebook reunite

There are many out there in cyberspace who belittle Facebook, though I like it.

Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with friends and schoolmates from my past and people I knew with a smile. Countless of whom, I had not seen or heard from in over 30 plus years. I am particularly happy to be back in contact with friend Gillian, the quintessential girl from across the road.

Me at 6 maybe 7

It has been a long time since I have conversed in anyway with many, except for Gillian, who I would run into from time to time with a quick hello, how are you doing chat. I the past I have gone out of my way to dodge people, even hid in a handy shop, or taken a turn into a side street, just to avoid a conversation.

The reason for my lapse in friendship with my old friends and mates is exclusively down to me. I when all doo lally towards the end of my late teens and started cutting people out of my life for no real reason, well no reason I can remember. It did not help when the family moved from my beloved docks area of Cardiff, new friends and a new life was in the offing and I grabbed it with both hands. However, I soon reverted to type and begun discarding them.

Facebook has seen me connect with many old friends via my Facebook group ‘The Docks Remembered’. The group is like therapy to me and others, names are coming back to me, and the old pictures posted in the group help. Would you like to know more?

Other than general family life, I have found out Gillian; likes are gin, horror, and tennis in the main, an interesting mix of likes. Two out of three do not rock my boat; however, I do like a good horror film and even a bad one sometimes. She lives in our old street, the street we grew up in as kids, I was a bit envious, until she told me, I would not like it now. Maybe I am looking through rose tinted glasses at a passed long gone.

I have also concluded that as a youngster, I must have been walking around with my eyes shut and fingers in my ears. Looking through some of the posts in the Docks group it leaves me wondering where was I when all this was happening. I know I was there, but why have I forgotten so much?

A few years ago one Saturday morning, I was looking at an old picture of a fish shop (see photo) long gone now and remembering. On the spare of the moment, I hit the Facebook button to create, and the Docks group was born. With only two people from my childhood on my Facebook friends list, Margarita Felices and Ruth Young, we have created a group of over 1000 members.

The success of this group can really be lain at the door of these two women for making the group successful. It was mainly via their friends list, that the group grew.