It's taken me a long time to find the right words. We may not have been close for a long time but you were my best friend for a time and meant so much to me, even going into adulthood. I keep trying to not feel too guilty that we lost touch, and accept that people sometimes just grow apart as they grow up, and that's okay. My friendship with you shaped a lot of my weird sense of humour as an adult, and we made memories as kids that I will never forget. It was exciting when your house on hythe hill was being built. My parents and grandparents would speculate about who might move in, and I remember when you had, peeking over the wall to be nosey and see who was there. Another little girl the same age as me? Awesome! How many times did my Grandad tell us off for climbing that wall? I'm still sure that if you took the bricks at the end of the wall off you could fish out two barbies! I remember not being allowed to go round every single time I was visiting Gran and Grandad so we would write letters to each other and run them back and forward all evening. Saturday nights spent watching the national lottery, man oh man, blind date and bay watch, shoving my Gran's sofa cushions up our tshirts and running around shouting that we were Pamela Anderson 😂 I remember sleepovers where we would record stupid stories onto cassettes and do quizzes in girls magazines. You were just that little bit older than me and got me upgraded from girl talk to mizz, and I still rember my Mum proof reading it to make sure it was suitable! In fact I still have a cassette recording of us somewhere that I'm trying to locate amongst all the junk in my loft. Oh my god, and I just remembered the time you met my my other friends and called Tanya's dad popeye 😂 I've never seen him look so pissed off, but in retrospect he deserved it lol. The obsession with Boyzone and Stephen Gately, Taylor Hanson, and the Moffatts! I still have all the singles and albums I bought. Also, I know you said I wasn't allowed to fancy Taylor Hanson and had to choose either Zach or Isaac (I chose Zach), but it's probably time I told you I still fancied Taylor any way. Sorrynotsorry 😝 And finally I have great memories of going on the Norfolk broads with you and your family, sharing a bedroom and you actually brought posters of Stephen Gately with you! We spent the whole week playing theme hospital or mortal kombat while the adults went shopping or whatever they were doing, and the day we had to try to pull the cover back over because it starting raining heavily all of a sudden, and as you tried to run back to the end of the boat slipped and landed on your backside, ending up with the biggest bruise I had ever seen! I was just glad you didn't end up in the water! I always remembered the time we went into Norwich City and their random song we made up about going to Norwich, to the tune of a Christmas carol. We were weird kids! When I moved to Norwich a few years back I always kept an eye out in the city for the record shop, but it was probably long gone. Finally, some parting words I will always remember and associate with you: Saveloy Mars bar Dime Marshmallow! Oh dear! I'll always regret not catching up and reconnecting properly. But at least we made the effort to keep saying we would at some point. And thank you for writing in my school planner that time that you were real and not a made up friend. I still have the sleeve amongst my old things. Peace, love, and bullet proof marshmallows ❤️ Jo (Polley)