On a subtle enough scale it is a mysterious process, although I do not, rationally, subscribe to the possibilities of the metaphysical, how else to describe what occurs on occasion than a whiff of precognition? It is a thought best kept to myself, I know.

Yet, on occasion, I am struck by the peculiar coincidence of thinking of an individual with whom I have had scant recent contact, or of an incident and the next thing I know I hear from that person, or an incident occurs closely paralleling what I'd thought of.

So it was earlier this week when I suddenly received an email from an old friend I'd last seen in my home five years earlier when she had arrived in town unexpectedly on a trip. She would be arriving on the 1st, staying to the 9th, for a course; might we be interested in meeting, having dinner together? She had already been in contact with another mutual friend, one whom we hadn't seen for about fifteen years and she too was interested in getting together.

They arrived right on the dot of six, just as promised, and just as dinner was nicely browning in the oven. The delight at seeing them both, kept both of us busy hugging and exclaiming over the pleasure of receiving them again in our home. They're each twenty years our junior, we'd been colleagues in the distant past when we were their age and they still younger. Each proffered to us as they entered our home, identical paper bags holding almost-identical bottles of wine.

Earlier I had baked cheese croissants, a raspberry-topped cheesecake for dessert, prepared chicken soup and rice, had a potato casserole in the oven, and chicken breasts baked with mushrooms, and roasted cauliflower ready to come out and be served. There was a lot of excited talk that passed between us for hours last night, and it was late by the time they left. We now know in some detail how each of them have fared over the intervening years.

Sometimes one's own problems shrink in significance to those that other people face, without, obviously, your being aware of them. It is a healthy experience to keep in touch with old friends, a valuable, emotional support for everyone - one never to be taken lightly.