Class of 1973, CCGGS, Canberra, Australia An invitation to attend the 40th Reunion of the Class of '73 at the Canberra Church of England Girls' Grammar School has recently arrived, in a very modern manner, via a closed group on Facebook. For the "girls"with whom I have already spoken, it had been a surreal moment in time...is it really 40 years since we left school.? We all know we have changed, have had major life experiences along the way, and so why is it that we all feel so much the same? I have been thinking about the concepts and realities of friendship. I met my first girlfriend on my first day at school in 1961 at Loreto Convent Kirribilli, in Sydney. We were seated next to each other and when we emerged from our very first day at "big school" we found our anxious mothers standing beside their cars speaking with each other. For both of them it was the first day at school for their first born...many years later I was to empathise