A Poem for Patrick

In memory of Patrick Roberts,

I remember

I remember us as kids

I remember you and me always keeping each other at a wary distance (little boys are gross – little girls are scary)

But still you were always there

Always laughing

I remember us

Later

Recently

We were walking down a road discussing ice cream

and our dreams.

I said something sarcastic and you couldn’t stop chuckling.

I remember promising we’d meet up,

Soon,

A few weeks time…

And I never doubted that future.

I never doubted that enthusiasm and excitement.

And I am sorry

I am so sorry dear friend

I am sorry that your dreams failed you

And I am sorry that I failed you.

But I remember

Oh dear, I remember you

And I always will.

By Jemma Richmond 

A night with the girls

As is the general slightly stereotypical trend for girls, I have a group, a clique, a posse,a jolly band of brothers sisters. It is just a small group, only 6 of us. We don’t have a name except maybe ‘the onesie crew’ but that is a story for another day. I do have other friends but we have individual relationships between just the two of us but in this group we have one 6 sided relationship (yes it can get a bit chaotic). They are my group of girlfriends but we aren’t like a lot of other girlfriend groups I’ve noticed. A lot of the groups around me were formed out of necessity. They consist of girls who dress the same, play the same sport, have the same culture or class orientated lifestyles but we aren’t like that. It is a wonder that 6 people so different in personality could come together and stay together as best friends. We like different movies, food, music, clothing, past time activities, school activities. We have different philosophical, political and religious views and yet we manage to work as a coherent, functioning, totally mad group of girls.

Due to our uncountable differences we rarely manage to go out with all of us in one go. It does happen but it is hard to organise. Now currently we are on school holiday which we, because we are in our final year of school, are expected to spend studying. I do realise that this blog may make it look like I am having the best of times dressing up and going out but most of my days have been spent at my desk learning everything from advanced calculus to PW Botha’s repressions and reforms. I did, inevitably, start to get cabin fever. I wanted to see my friends. Getting a day where we were all available was about as easy as giving a donkey a belly ring but eventually we settle on a day. Today. We met up at JB Corners in Sandton (this is like our spot now) and we ate good food and laughed all evening. It was great to see them. The nice thing about us all being so different is that we always have things to talk about and always make each other laugh. I was tired before I got there, exhausted, it was probably from my brain being over worked but after spending only a couple of hours with my friends I felt rejuvenated.

I know every girl/woman probably says their girlfriends are the best girlfirends but honestly (and totally unbiasedly) my girlfriends are the best girlfriends.