Biggest surprise on Friends Reunited?
Discussion
I'm assuming that most PHers have had a browse on Friends Reunited at some point or other - so what surprised you the most about your old class mates?
For me, I'm 41 and was shocked to discover that quite a few of my cohort are grandparents! It was somewhat disconcerting, particularly as I can only visualise them at the age of 15 or 16. However, when I do the maths it stacks up (albeit depressingly!)
For me, I'm 41 and was shocked to discover that quite a few of my cohort are grandparents! It was somewhat disconcerting, particularly as I can only visualise them at the age of 15 or 16. However, when I do the maths it stacks up (albeit depressingly!)
LOL
I'm 34, and without going near the place I know that 2 of the 'ladeis' that attended my place of education at the same time as me are shortly to be grandmothers.
Of course, the fact that these 'ladies' are 2 of the gang that made my school days a living nightmare doesn't make me 
at all 
I'm 34, and without going near the place I know that 2 of the 'ladeis' that attended my place of education at the same time as me are shortly to be grandmothers.
Of course, the fact that these 'ladies' are 2 of the gang that made my school days a living nightmare doesn't make me at all In general the only people who register with FR are those who have done relatively well in life.
Not too many "I've never held a job down for more than two weeks, my fourth marriage is rocky and I'm only in contact with 8 of my 12 or 13 kids. Luckily the rehab is going well and only 6 months of my 2 years of living as a woman to go now.
Ho hum
Not too many "I've never held a job down for more than two weeks, my fourth marriage is rocky and I'm only in contact with 8 of my 12 or 13 kids. Luckily the rehab is going well and only 6 months of my 2 years of living as a woman to go now.
Ho hum
I filled out the biz on friends reunited at work and literally 5 seconds later my phone rang! It was someone from high school who I hadn't seen for 10 years or so, so we had a jolly old chinwag talking about all the nutters from school as you do. During this chinwag it emerged that he hadn't see my friends reunited profile at all, he'd just noticed my name on the company address list and called me on the off chance. What are the chances of that eh?
glocko said:
In general the only people who register with FR are those who have done relatively well in life.
Not too many "I've never held a job down for more than two weeks, my fourth marriage is rocky and I'm only in contact with 8 of my 12 or 13 kids. Luckily the rehab is going well and only 6 months of my 2 years of living as a woman to go now.
Ho hum
glocko said:
In general the only people who register with FR are those who have done relatively well in life.
Not too many "I've never held a job down for more than two weeks, my fourth marriage is rocky and I'm only in contact with 8 of my 12 or 13 kids. Luckily the rehab is going well and only 6 months of my 2 years of living as a woman to go now.
Ho hum
Scarily, there was a lad in the year after me who DID have a sex change: he's been featured on TV shows and is now called Jordan, but he was John Bell when I knew him/her/it.
Also two raving ponces finally admitted to being gay on FR, but they never had the balls (
) to do it at school.... There was one well liked chap chap who never got good grades, always played footie with us at lunchtime, we mainly focused on clowning about in class.
It wasnt surprising to read he went on to get expelled from several educational establishments, but in a strange way it seemed believable (praps call me gullible
) when he mentioned his involvement with Royal family, Posh & Becks, Whitney & Bobby Brown, having played premiership football and that he married an incredibly wealthy descendent of the Mauritian royal family who spends her free time with Elton John.
If anyone else had put that in their profile, I wouldnt have believed them. Some people always get on in life, go places, its 'in them' in a destined kind of sense to do so - whilst others admit to flying rubber dog shit out of honk kong, and through the grapevine in various old schools, I hear many of the real brainboxes are earning minimum wage, still have no direction in life, and didnt get anyhere so to speak.
It wasnt surprising to read he went on to get expelled from several educational establishments, but in a strange way it seemed believable (praps call me gullible
) when he mentioned his involvement with Royal family, Posh & Becks, Whitney & Bobby Brown, having played premiership football and that he married an incredibly wealthy descendent of the Mauritian royal family who spends her free time with Elton John. If anyone else had put that in their profile, I wouldnt have believed them. Some people always get on in life, go places, its 'in them' in a destined kind of sense to do so - whilst others admit to flying rubber dog shit out of honk kong, and through the grapevine in various old schools, I hear many of the real brainboxes are earning minimum wage, still have no direction in life, and didnt get anyhere so to speak.
Whilst scanning FR I noticed the details for one girls I vaguely knew in school stated "..have just come out from four years in prison." This surprised me as she was an intelligent girl from a well-to-do background. I suppose anyone has the potential to get into 'a bit of trouble' or go off the rails though!
Having thought about this, she may have meant that she had 'worked' in a prison??
Having thought about this, she may have meant that she had 'worked' in a prison??
I'm 53 and left school 36 years ago. It was very odd to read what my school mates had done in the intervening period; some had done really well and some had not; some were very happy and some were a bit ho-hum. Overall I found the whole experience a bit depressing as none of them were the same people I grew up with and remembered. Obviously, thats what happens as people age and change but since I feel just like the same kid now as I was then, it is a bit of a shock.
The funniest bit was going back to the reunion at grammar school and meeting the Deirdrie Birchwood (Likely Lads reference if you're young)of our year. My, my how she had changed. We were introduced by a mutual classmate and I responded "nice to meet you" as the name and the face and (lost) figure didn't compute at all - I thought she must be his wife or something.
Unless you are feeling very brave, I wouldn't recommend going back to primary school though - that was truly difficult for me as I really hated the place and my contemporaries were as crap now as they were at the time.
The funniest bit was going back to the reunion at grammar school and meeting the Deirdrie Birchwood (Likely Lads reference if you're young)of our year. My, my how she had changed. We were introduced by a mutual classmate and I responded "nice to meet you" as the name and the face and (lost) figure didn't compute at all - I thought she must be his wife or something.
Unless you are feeling very brave, I wouldn't recommend going back to primary school though - that was truly difficult for me as I really hated the place and my contemporaries were as crap now as they were at the time.
...that everyone measures themselves with job titles and so forth. Really sad. Remember why I didnt like many of them! Used to get emails from people - 90% were to tell me that they were financial successes and only one person was worth emailing chatting with what had happened in their life, where they were going, made me laugh etc..
Theres a wierd bloke I used to know when I was at college that keeps emailing my Friends reunited inbox.
I was at college in 1992, he was a couple of years older than me, but he was quite a slimy, wierd kind of guy. He was doing judo and was boasting to a group of Asians as to how good he was. So they beat him up. He reported them to the Police, so they beat him up again!! Last I knew he was going to take them to court.
One of the things he always used to say was he liked Chienese women as they were better in bed. On the way back from college, my mum gave me and him a lift home. THe next day he was saying how he liked my mum
I tried to avoid this guy as much as possible but he lived not far away from me and soon found out where I lived.
A couple of months after I left college I get a letter from him asking if I want to go out with him and his friends to Southend. I ignored it. A couple of months later I get a letter thanking me for my enquiry into Anthropology at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.
To cut a long story short I found out he had sent a letter to this college/university, under my name and address. (Why I have no idea, but I met a couple of other former college mates a year later and they had received unusual post aswell).
A few months later I start getting brown envelopes coming through. My name was again spelt incorrectly as it had been on the letters from the college and from this guy. These envelopes contained brochures of chinese porn videos. It went on for a couple of years then stopped. I saw the guy around every now & then but tried to avoid him at all costs.
This was about 1992-1993 time.
I moved to Langdon Hills about 4 years ago. I very rarely check Friends Reunited, and the emials no longer come through to me as I still have my defunct email address registered with them.
Then last year I get.
-------------------------------------
2nd July & 16 July.
Hi Lee,
I saw your name on Friends Reunited.
I‘d love to hear what you’re up to now.
Regards,
----------------------------------------
30 July
hi lee i remember you i live in a flat now in harold hill with a friend i dont play any more sports but im still a student email me soon you were in my geography class remember email me soon regards.
-----------------------------------------------
I then get 2 E-Cards. One with a picture of the sun with "Dear Lee" written next to it. The next is a picure of someone walking the plank with the message "Good Luck."
--------------------------------------------------
Then 31 Jan 06.
Hi lee i was in your geography class do you still work in a bank im still a student and single i live in a flat in harold hill im 34 single still entertainments manager for Havering i provide all the humour and jokes read my profile and contact me soon yours sincerly
I have ignored all his emails. I know it's a bit harsh, but if I email him that would be it, I would never get away from him. I am actually thinking of pulling down my Friends Reunited profile. You don't get the attractive girls you used to know emailing. Just the cranks
I was at college in 1992, he was a couple of years older than me, but he was quite a slimy, wierd kind of guy. He was doing judo and was boasting to a group of Asians as to how good he was. So they beat him up. He reported them to the Police, so they beat him up again!! Last I knew he was going to take them to court.
One of the things he always used to say was he liked Chienese women as they were better in bed. On the way back from college, my mum gave me and him a lift home. THe next day he was saying how he liked my mum
I tried to avoid this guy as much as possible but he lived not far away from me and soon found out where I lived.
A couple of months after I left college I get a letter from him asking if I want to go out with him and his friends to Southend. I ignored it. A couple of months later I get a letter thanking me for my enquiry into Anthropology at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge.
To cut a long story short I found out he had sent a letter to this college/university, under my name and address. (Why I have no idea, but I met a couple of other former college mates a year later and they had received unusual post aswell).
A few months later I start getting brown envelopes coming through. My name was again spelt incorrectly as it had been on the letters from the college and from this guy. These envelopes contained brochures of chinese porn videos. It went on for a couple of years then stopped. I saw the guy around every now & then but tried to avoid him at all costs.
This was about 1992-1993 time.
I moved to Langdon Hills about 4 years ago. I very rarely check Friends Reunited, and the emials no longer come through to me as I still have my defunct email address registered with them.
Then last year I get.
-------------------------------------
2nd July & 16 July.
Hi Lee,
I saw your name on Friends Reunited.
I‘d love to hear what you’re up to now.
Regards,
----------------------------------------
30 July
hi lee i remember you i live in a flat now in harold hill with a friend i dont play any more sports but im still a student email me soon you were in my geography class remember email me soon regards.
-----------------------------------------------
I then get 2 E-Cards. One with a picture of the sun with "Dear Lee" written next to it. The next is a picure of someone walking the plank with the message "Good Luck."
--------------------------------------------------
Then 31 Jan 06.
Hi lee i was in your geography class do you still work in a bank im still a student and single i live in a flat in harold hill im 34 single still entertainments manager for Havering i provide all the humour and jokes read my profile and contact me soon yours sincerly
I have ignored all his emails. I know it's a bit harsh, but if I email him that would be it, I would never get away from him. I am actually thinking of pulling down my Friends Reunited profile. You don't get the attractive girls you used to know emailing. Just the cranks
UKBob said:
whilst others admit to flying rubber dog shit out of honk kong
...Maverick if he hadn't have been so lucky!
I checked out Friends Reunited a couple of years ago to see how all my old classmates were doing, and found that very few had gone-on-to/remained in the line of work they had expressed an interest in when I knew them.
As a teenager in school I knew a pair of girls who were solid friends, one of whom was very smart but a little shy, and the other was quite bubbly and lively, but not so interested in her education. They were an odd pairing and had a school reputation suggesting as much. FR informed me of some interesting things: The clever/shy girl had read Law at university, dropped out (she wasn't quite as open about this in her profile), become interested in partying, and was now working as a PR rep for a famous young-adults holiday organisation. The lively girl had left school after her A-levels, done checkout jobs for a year or so, gone to nightschool, got qualifications in business studies, went to university and got a first-class degree in Advertising, and was now high-flying business manager for a famous young-adults holiday organisation.
And the two girls are now a proper couple, if you know what I mean?!
I also discovered that a girl who used to bully me in my first year of secondary school (no laughing, she was a big girl ya know!
) had married some dodgy guy with his own helicopter, and someone I used to boss around in the Library Club (again, ) was now living in Dubai and owned a string of homes throughout the UK that he rents out. So some lucky buggers did alright!
Not quite through friends reunited but found out not long ago that I went to school with the step sister of my Australian friend who now lives in Estonia. She wasn't there for long as she got thrown out for using heroin. Turns out one guy I knew was a drug dealer too. Eesh I was soo naive! Didn't know any of this was going on!
Did meet up with an old friend of mine through friends reunited. He was always such a nice boy and now he's well not what I'd have expected!
Turns out one guy I knew was a drug dealer too. Eesh I was soo naive! Didn't know any of this was going on! Did meet up with an old friend of mine through friends reunited. He was always such a nice boy and now he's well not what I'd have expected!
It's only 5 years since I left high school so not many people are on friends reunited, from Primary school only a couple most of whom are miserable failures doing not a lot, one was quite smart but went off the rails but now seems to have settled into a career after a couple of years in the wilderness (you wont find that out through his 3 word friends reunited profile though 
). A few others seem to be leading annoyingly normal and productive lives.
From high school a rather strange and frankly unbalanced girl who tried to commit suicide has apparently had a baby, which I find slightly worrying, though maybe she has settled down now.
Another guy who dropped out, a bit of a 'jock' sports type, but not too bright, always good with the ladies, has since become, a bus driver! or bus 'operator' as he puts it. A girl who I never liked much has written a suprisingly amusing profile, though I still wouldn't want to see her again. Another girl who was rather hot, but very dim and had a reputation as being the school bike () has gone on to be a beautician, pretty much what I would have expected. The smug school 'couple' who were practically engaged by graduation have unsuprisingly got married and bought a house, again boring and productive lives, much like most other people from high school. I'll have to check back in 10 years when they will have gone off the rails and had a bitter divorces and lost their jobs through redundancy 
I seem to be the only person who moved overseas though, most people haven't moved very far at all (some are actually still living with their parents). The best part is that I didn't piss about after school and went straight into and fast tracked through university, everyone else farted about in dead end jobs for a couple of years or picked the wrong course then changed, then changed again, some are only just enrolling in tertiary education! Good thing about friends reunited, makes you realise how your life could have turned out 
). A few others seem to be leading annoyingly normal and productive lives. From high school a rather strange and frankly unbalanced girl who tried to commit suicide has apparently had a baby, which I find slightly worrying, though maybe she has settled down now.
Another guy who dropped out, a bit of a 'jock' sports type, but not too bright, always good with the ladies, has since become, a bus driver! or bus 'operator' as he puts it
. A girl who I never liked much has written a suprisingly amusing profile, though I still wouldn't want to see her again. Another girl who was rather hot, but very dim and had a reputation as being the school bike () has gone on to be a beautician, pretty much what I would have expected. The smug school 'couple' who were practically engaged by graduation have unsuprisingly got married and bought a house, again boring and productive lives, much like most other people from high school. I'll have to check back in 10 years when they will have gone off the rails and had a bitter divorces and lost their jobs through redundancy I seem to be the only person who moved overseas though, most people haven't moved very far at all (some are actually still living with their parents
). The best part is that I didn't piss about after school and went straight into and fast tracked through university, everyone else farted about in dead end jobs for a couple of years or picked the wrong course then changed, then changed again, some are only just enrolling in tertiary education! Good thing about friends reunited, makes you realise how your life could have turned out 
aldi said:
I filled out the biz on friends reunited at work and literally 5 seconds later my phone rang! It was someone from high school who I hadn't seen for 10 years or so, so we had a jolly old chinwag talking about all the nutters from school as you do. During this chinwag it emerged that he hadn't see my friends reunited profile at all, he'd just noticed my name on the company address list and called me on the off chance. What are the chances of that eh?
Whoa....
diden't put 'the $queeze' on ya did he
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