What do we give up and take up post 30? Post 40? I have researched this with the usual suspects and I’ll start with Original Laura.

Original Laura started her wonderful family in the nineties – even the youngest is now a teenager.  As such, O.L.’s new hobbies include international travel, holidays of any description as well as music and comedy events.  The last time I couldn’t track her down she was seeing Alanis Morrisette live.  We once made loose plans to go to Glasto but I mostly can’t keep up with her. I do, however, resent that she managed to get Peter Kay tickets and went with her new mates!  She’s unavailable for comment (probably in the Maldives) but would have likely used a quote from our youth,

“If you’re not fast, you’re last.” 

This was previously used within my friendship group regarding the realisation that the clingfilm was being removed at a buffet table.  Literally, we had it printed on T shirts for Amy P’s 21st.  But where are they all now?  If you’re thinking of the t-shirts, they wouldn’t fit us.  If you’re thinking of the cast of characters…

Well, Rosa’s just got married and taken up ballet.  I was quite surprised by that although Dr. Helen is a keen ballerina and I don’t find that odd as she’s never missed a lesson since she was 3.  Slee-bags has taken up doing ‘coffee enemas’ which I also don’t intend to join in with (and I did ask her permission before uploading this).  She actually said,

“I can’t believe I’ve been consuming this orally my whole adult life.”

I know a few people who’ve taken up ‘am dram’ which is absolutely fine as long as none them expect me to sit in uncomfortable chairs to watch them.   As such, I didn’t ask any of them to comment.  Coeliac Sophie’s husband, Curtis, makes a career of attending every showing of ‘The Mormon’s’ he can get tickets to (and we did attend Rosa’s wedding as a throuple when my husband couldn’t make it).

As for me… my friend Lesley is teaching me to crochet a baby blanket for the impending birth of my niece or nephew.  It’s a lot like therapy, as it turns out.  Sometimes you have to unpick a whole lot of stitches to sort out an earlier error and hope the edges are eventually smoother.