Funny how you can know someone a short time, #2

It's just part of it, isn't it? We come to work here from all over and some people like it, and others not so much, and they leave. And I guess you can stop yourself from getting closer to people you probably won't always know, but that wouldn't be any fun. And besides, when it comes to personal relationships, I find I have increasingly been tending to err on the side of tepid restraint. While I am not advocating a return to the headlong passionate messiness of my 20s, caution was never really my style either. I vow here and now to try and find some sort of middle ground.

My good friend and Jordan travel partner got on a plane today; he's moving on after just a few months here - and it's a good move for him. I was really sad when we said goodbye, because even though he has infuriated me on more than one occasion, I am seriously going to miss that guy. He is one decent person. Ordering lunch will not be nearly the event and I don't know who will help me sort out all my IT-ish issues or give me lots of useful stuff. And not to sound too dramatic, but he is going very far away and I will probably never see him again. So, you know, bummer.

He took the piss a lot, as the Brits say. It made me laugh. The most gullible I've been was last week, when he showed me a video about new Mac laptops that replaced the keyboard with an iPod-ish click wheel. As I seriously pondered whether I would be interested in such a feature, he revealed it was, of course, from The Onion. I shall never again pass through groups of families reuniting in an airport reception area without giggling at the thought of him saying "it's a scene the world over". And I did not put a Gloria Gaynor song on the CD I made for him, even though he joked about one being there. Then again I gave him the nickname Mister Spaz Pants, for frequent fits at work due to high standards he won't compromise - he's a cracker journo. I am pretty sure I told him about that. The nickname, I mean.

So I am feeling atmospheric and at loose ends today. Thinking I've had a nice start to 2009. Kinda blue, but better off than if I had not bothered.

Definitely.