I lost a friend and patted a cheetah

So during Queens Birthday weekend I found out that I had lost a dear friend. She had been living in Taipei (TLM and I had stayed with her at the end of 2018) and was looking forward to finishing up there after one more year, and then retiring early. I was in shock for a couple of days after finding out. We saw each other at least once a year although we were on opposite ends of the earth, and have known each other since I was about 16. I'm so going to miss her.

...

The boy recently had his 50th birthday, and he wanted to do a Close Encounter at the zoo with their two cheetahs. And because he is lovely he wanted me to do it with him.

The zoo's cheetah's are hand-reared so apparently the cheetahs both enjoy human contact. One went straight to the far corner, looking over now and again. The other strolled over, strolled past and repeated - sometimes stopping by for a pat.

It was quite different from having a close encounter with the red pandas, but that's the be expected...

These are all photos of the same cheetah - either Cango or Kunjuka, I forget which. Behind him are the boy's lower legs and, to his right, mine.

On making friends with your kid's friends' parents

These days, the only adults I hang out with are fellow parents. And increasingly, I find myself choosing to hang out with people whose kids play well with TLM. This works out well when us parents enjoy each others' company as much as the kids do. But there are some friends whom I'd like to socialise with, but don't because our respective kids treat each other as unwelcome interlopers. I suppose those get-togethers have to happen when our respective offspring are at creche or whatever.

On the other hand, there are some parents I'd like to hang out with simply because TLM gets along with their kids. Some of these parents I don't know very well; some of them - I suspect - think I'm boring or stupid or full of bollocks, and daily pray that I don't invite them over for a playdate.

And then there are the playdates that don't happen because the other kid's primary caregiver parent is a man. I know a few of those, and - with one exception - I'd feel awkward about organising a playdate where it's just me and him and our respective toddlers. Although, when I think about it, there's really no logical reason to feel this way. It's not like I'm a single parent on the look-out, or an unfaithful one.

It's just one of those boy-girl things.