Almost two years ago I wrote about how Twitter changed my life. I still thank my lucky stars for it every day. It’s enriched my life immeasurably. I know that a lot of people don’t understand it and some don’t want to understand it but for me it’s opened up a whole new world of possibilities, introduced me to wonderful friends and widened my horizons. It’s made me laugh and it’s made me cry, and if it were to be switched off tomorrow I would mourn its loss because I would be poorer without it.
Back in March 2011 I did something which some might say was very stupid. I agreed to drive over 50 miles to a small Lincolnshire village and meet a Twitter friend in a pub car park. We were meeting in the evening so it was dark and when I arrived I discovered I had very little phone signal. Sandy won’t mind me saying that the word “dodgy” crossed my mind more than once as I sat in my car waiting for her to arrive. I’d given my dad every piece of information I knew about Sandy and her partner Chris because you can never be too careful. I’d spoken to her on the phone a couple of times and I knew what she looked like but you hear such awful stories …
A large saloon car pulled into the car park and I squinted through the glass and there she was grinning like a Cheshire Cat and waving. I got out of my car and before theirs had barely stopped the passenger door flew open and Sandy came rushing towards me with arms outstretched. She hugged me tightly and I knew everything was going to be ok. After a hug from Chris I was positive. I felt like I’d known them for ages.
As I drove home later that night having had a thoroughly great evening I couldn’t quite believe my luck. I’d just met two of the loveliest people you can possibly imagine and I knew without any doubt that we would be friends for a very long time.
Two months later and I was greeted with a big hug outside York Minster by another lovely person, Nic. We spent the day eating, drinking (tea for me, wine for her – I still get teased about that), gossiping and gazing with rather bemused looks at some rather risqué artwork in York Minster. Another friendship forged.
A few months later Sandy, Chris, Nic and I all met in London for a day of picnicking in Regent’s Park and visiting the zoo. It was the first time Nic had met Sandy and Chris. There was much laughter over popping corks and a multitude of double entendres, some rather wonderful potato salad and a lot of chattering. We all got on so brilliantly it was hard to imagine a time when we hadn’t met.
Twelve months after I first met Sandy and Chris we all (Nic too) arranged to meet in York for a weekend and this time someone else, Julia, came too. You may remember we capered in a convent! Another fantastic friend to add to the list and it was Julia who was there with me last week, helping me find my courage.
We all meet as often as we can. Sometimes all of us together, sometimes not, but we never fail to have fun, talk a lot, laugh and eat plenty.
They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them.”
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Sc. 1.
There have been several other wonderful people I’ve met along the way. The lovely vivacious Vix who introduced me to the joys of Brixham; Jen, simply the best person to camp with at an air show come muddy swamp or sun-scorched field; kind and generous Sal who will tramp round London in the pouring rain; and Julian and Amanda both of whom I finally met last week after nearly three years of tweeting. And there have been others.
Without Twitter I wouldn’t have met any of these people or shared so many experiences with them. I wouldn’t be writing about air shows or convents or steep hills. I wouldn’t be raving about Shakespeare at The Globe. I probably wouldn’t know what the Pathfinders were and I certainly wouldn’t have been to a screening of a film about finding them. And my life would be so much poorer.
But it’s not just about the people I’ve met in the flesh. It’s about those I’m yet to meet and those I’ll never meet; all those people who fill my Twitter timeline 24 hours a day. You’re only ever a tweet away from a kind word, a shared laugh or just a hello. Twitter can be an escape, a provider of inspiration, a shoulder to cry on, or a place to let off steam. Sometimes it’s just a place to be ridiculously silly.
If it wasn’t for Twitter I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Blogging hadn’t even crossed my mind before I was inspired by other bloggers I discovered through Twitter. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t be writing at all because it was fan fiction that got me writing and I’d never heard of that before Twitter.
I’ve discovered new music, new films, new books, new places, new food, so many new things through Twitter it’s hard to comprehend just how I ever survived without it.
Don’t get me wrong, there are downsides: hate, ignorance, spam, misogyny, sexism, I could go on. But, those things are downsides of life; they don’t exist solely on Twitter. And if you’re sensible, apply common sense and maybe don’t arrange to meet in a slightly less than salubrious car park in the dark (although I don’t regret this for one minute) all of that can be avoided and who knows what you might discover?
To all my Twitter friends, those I’ve met, those I hope to meet and those who I never will, wherever you are, I send much love and a big thank you from the very bottom of my heart.
Thank YOU! And lots of hugs!
I’d been on Twitter for my private practice – but it was so boring because either I followed other massage business who had nothing to say other than buy this product, schedule a session or take this class, I felt weird having my own clients follow me because then it would go against patient confidentiality (even though it would be their choice to do so). Needless to say it was quite boring.
It wasn’t till I started again, this time with a personal account, that I finally got to learn the ins and outs of Twitter, and how to have fun and this time, actually converse with people (with 140 characters or less) and most of all, make friends.
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Lots of hugs back. Making friends is absolutely the best thing about Twitter. If someone had said to me 3 years ago that I would meet some of the people who scrolled down my screen I would have laughed in their face … I had no idea!
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One day I’m sure I’ll meet some of the people on my TL as well 🙂
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I definitely want to meet some from further afield now 🙂
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This is a fabulous post Kathryn,
I too have met many people via twitter that are now firm friends and almost despair of the folk who say “Oh I don’t do twitter, I don’t understand it!” I do use it to promote my business but always remember that it’s social first.
I am delighted to be able to call you a friend and to be “one of the girls” on our jaunts whether picnicking in the park or capering in a convent, I look forward to the next one. xx
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Thank you. You being one of the girls reminds me of a couple of lines in your birthday poem about being “a man who puts up with a lot” and “unruly women running amok”! And yes, wonder where we’ll end up next xx
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Kathryn, to read such a brilliant post only weeks after I closed my Twitter account makes me almost sad I have done so. The trouble with me is that I CAN’T talk in 140 characters! So Facebook’s best for me where i can gabble on to my heart’s delight. But isn’t it lovely that our friendships can blossom at any age and via any medium? I count myself as blessed as you, but with one sad problem… I live way too far away from where all my new friends live to make meeting a likelihood. Sad but true. Cheers and very best!
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I am constantly surprised at what I can achieve in 140 characters. In some ways it teaches me to be succinct…but it does also mean I sometimes have to make what to me are unforgivable grammatical errors to get my point across! I’ve never been overly keen on FB although I do use it to keep in touch with family and old workmates. Twitter is more of a constant conversation…it’s like we’re sitting around a giant table – sometimes I chat to the person next to me, sometimes I shout across the table to someone opposite, sometimes I just wave in an animated fashion at anyone who cares to look in my direction 🙂
The friendship thing has blown my mind. I’ve never been someone who has had many friends – most of mine have always been connected to work – and I think this is why it’s had such a profound effect on my life. It’s helped me find people I would otherwise never have met, people with whom I share common interests, and that has been so exciting.
Distance is always difficult. None of the friends I’ve met live locally to me so we have to make plans a long way in advance and can never be spontaneous, although I admit our location issues are not as complicated as yours might be! But you just never know what opportunities might arise and I live in hope that I will get to meet some of those friends I’ve made that live elsewhere in the world. Others have done it so we know it’s possible.
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I so agree with you about the profound effect of all of this. If I hadn’t become a fiction writer, I’d never have become involved with blogs or Facebook, even Pinterest. And would have missed the chance completely of engaging with kindred spirits – people who love embroidery, reading, writing, the beach, gardening, cooking, farming, dogs, historical fiction and fantasy, Richard Armitage…
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This is a wonderful and beautiful post Kathryn. 🙂
I’ve also met few very nice persons, who had become very closed friends, through a forum.
And for Twitter/Facebook, I think it’s great to communicate with persons all around the world… and it helps me improving my English. 😉
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Thank you and thank you for commenting. The Internet and the opportunities it gives us are mind-blowing. The friendships forged are one of the very best things 🙂
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You’re welcome. 😉
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Friends come from different places and these days it is easy to have friends from all over the world.
Back in the stone age (haha) that is before the internet was big, 1995 I sent in money to get on a penpal list and to got names. I wanted to have a penpal from England, I got three names and wrote all three. The first girl wrote me back and we have now been friends for 18 years and she is my best friend. We met in 1998, when I took a trip over to England at seven months pregnant. I wanted to make sure I got there before I was busy for a few years, good thing because son3 came 21 months after his brother. That was a great trip, stayed at her house and got to see the side tour groups don’t. We also now talk to each other on the phone and e-mail. I also talk to her parents and SO on the phone too.
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That’s great! I guess making friends on the Internet is just an expansion of having pen pals. I never really had any pen pals growing up. I wrote to a girl in Germany that I’d been to stay with when I was 11 but I wrote because I had to not because I wanted to and it fizzled out. I couldn’t write a decent letter back then to save my life! 🙂
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