I’m pretty sure that back in the annals of time I have photographed this little piggy for my blog before, although I can’t remember when. It’s a special little piggy that has sat on the windowsills of my kitchens (7 houses) for more than thirty years. Every time I move house, the piggy gets carefully and lovingly wrapped and moved to its new home.

Its glaze is all cracked and it has a chip on its foot but it’s still always there reminding me that I am loved by my friends. In fact, it says, in gold painted writing on the top, “friend”. It was given to me by my friend Claire in the very early days of our friendship when we were so close that neither of us did anything without consulting the other. In the days long before free minutes on mobile phones, Claire was a receptionist whose job, amongst other things, was answering the telephone at her company. This meant she had access to their phone system and she’d phone me every afternoon, often spending two or three hours on the phone. Can I remember what we talked about? Not a lot. I’m sure that most of it was drivel or lewd.

One day she presented me with this piggy. She’d been told it could have my name on it if she liked but instead she chose the word “friend”, much to the bemusement of the seller. He didn’t understand that we’d call each other “friend” all of the time – “hello friend” etc etc. I sometimes got called Allbran and although it’s a much more recent moniker, she’s known as Clazuk – but I’m not responsible for that one. She has always called DM “Twiglet Legs” and he called her “thingbatspoon” – I have no idea where that one came from but I expect this will prompt a thorough explanation from one or other of them.

The gold painted label saying “friend” is fading but she’s still a big part of my life. She introduced me, whether by accident (Colin and Paul) or design (Shazbop and DM) to most of my best friends and even my husband. You could call meeting Claire the catalyst for all of the things I hold precious about my adult life. In fact, from now on I think that's what I'll do! I rarely see her these days (the same goes for most of my friends) but maybe that’ll change sometime soon…