Perhaps I am simply another person with my mid-life crisis switched to “stand-by” , but like many people, I have a passing interest in some of the social networking sites. These facilitate the possibility of reconnecting with old friends, colleagues and perhaps a far wider category “people that I once bumped into”. I recently crossed from the virtual world into the very real and met up with and old friend that I had not seen for 30 years.

We had spent time at school together and played for the school team and so on. I remembered him well and upon meeting him, quickly realised that the years have been kinder to him than to me. It was good to meet up, we had both been curious about what each other was now doing. His parting words were “let’s not leave it so long next time” – if we do, there is a high likelihood that one of us won’t make the next meeting given the average life expectancy of men.

Last months news of pop icon Michael Jackson’s death at the age of 50 was merely another reminder that time does indeed pass very quickly.