Friends, Mates And Webbys

I decide to start a new week by turning to the nominations for the 13th Annual Webby Awards to see if I get a mention. I don't. It looks as though it is going to be another of those weeks : disappointing, unfulfilling, the very opposite of life-enhancing. And then I remember that I beat my "friend" Martin twice at chess on Saturday night and the sun peeps out between the gathering clouds of despondency. As Saint Leonard once memorably growled, "the cameras pan, to  the stand in stunt man" and I decide to live for another week. 

I italicise the word "friend" not because I question his status as a true and loyal friend : I have known Martin for more years than Gordon Brown has been scowling and despite his obvious anger at frequently being beaten at chess he is what used to be called "a good egg". I italicise the word friend because he is my friend, at this point of time, my only friend. I'm talking Facebook here. 

Some time ago I joined Facebook to try and find out what my son was up to, but quite reasonably, he refused to be my "friend" and therefore I wasn't able to get access to his Facebook Home Page. After that, my Facebook site languished : slowly rusting away as it was being reclaimed by the primal Internet jungle (Yes, I am still reading the history of the Panama Canal!). On Saturday night, Martin - who is an active Facebooker - offered to be my "friend", which I think was a generous gesture from someone who had just had his intellectual heart ripped out on the chess board. Twice.

So my Facebook page is up and running again and I am the proud possessor of one friend. My son tells me that having one friend is really good and not many people have that many. He must be pleased for me as he has a wide grin on his face as he tells me this. Perhaps I can impress him even more by collecting other friends but I am not sure how to do this as there doesn't seem to be an Instruction Book.

Facebook doesn't seem to have any nominations for this years' Webbys but the full list of nominations in over 70 categories is available on the Webby site. It is good to see the Guardian listed in a number of those categories - a rare non-US nomination. If you feel you want to advance the Guardian's cause you can vote by using the Webby People's Voice voting site. If you can't be bothered you can always try and find my Facebook Homepage.