Not the amount of tea I drink in one day :)

Clint, I know all of this. The reason we have this friendship is because you have pushed so hard for it. Every single time we see each other on IM you have always messaged me (unless I was quick enough to get there first), and you’ve done this basically without fail for the last eight years.

I have a real flaw where by the non stop pace of life, and my depression / lack of social skills means that unless someone takes the initiative, I just let friendships fade away because I can’t bring myself to contact someone I haven’t spoken to in a while -- and wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

Even after all the arguments, it has come to an understanding between us that disagreement is irrelevant to us being friends and that we can always talk again. There’s no animosity there over having a difference of opinion (and indeed we do). Because you have always accosted me the second I turn up online you’ve succeeded in knowing me better than anybody else.

I think Clint that you were only being yourself and we all have those maddening, frustrating moments with computers and programming (I’ve been in total "Hulk smash!" rages dealing with dumb bugs that I couldn’t see because I was being impatient).

It’s me who has to apologise for being so thin in recent years. Yes, we always talk when we meet online, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had a good tete-a-tete like this. It’s been too much like passing in the street with a couple of meaningless "how do you do"s, and that’s my fault for not giving you more consideration.

Since moving house my life has been in a constant rush with work and everything else that needs to get done, so weeks keep passing me by without any time being spent on considering others. I was thinking to come and visit you at some time but I should have done that sooner than later given the problems America has with its airport security right now, and that dreaded tax deadline that’s coming up means I don’t know how much disposable income I have until next year, and that's still dependent on the work turning up regularly (I’m self employed with my own business).

Yet again I have not the time to give this proper consideration as I must now dash off to a customer, so I may have to come back to this thread if I have missed anything I was meaning to say.

But in summary, it’s quite alright Clint — you’re my best friend, I forgive you, it’s not a problem to me and worry less that you may have offended me or something than I do that you will go away after our altercation and harm yourself in some way.

Keep building on what you have Clint.

Kind regards,
Kroc.