It's twenty past four on a Wednesday afternoon, and as I look down the office to my right, Ben's quietly tapping away at the keyboard. We've sat roughly five meters apart for the past three years and I'd say we've gotten to know one another quite well while working at rumble.

Ben started about two days before me, hired for his guru-like skills in cool technologies, frameworks and platforms. He also took too like a duck to water in the then small aspiring web agency. I've been lucky to work with him, you can immediately tell he has a passion for creating cool usable and useful software, something that transcends most people in the web industry.

I had left behind one of my closest friends Tim (also an avid geek) about two months prior, and I immediately felt a void in his absence. So not long after my beginning at rumble Ben and I started hanging out over a few post-work pints, talking geek, girls and glory.

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The first drinking memories that I can actually remember (it's difficult) were around the time of the football World Cup in 2006. We were well into the summer that year (best London summer to date) and it was about three months into our time at rumble.

I can remember leaving the office with Ben to head off to the closest pub The Elign. I think both being relatively new to the area, we didn't know what was good, bad or outright get the fuck out of here.

We entered and plastered on the large screen TV was the match between England and Trinidad & Tobago. Scattered in front of the tele were bald men with white jerseys, across their backs proclaimed the number 7, 8 or 9, Like somehow the embroidery of their heros would transform them into the most attractive specimen to the opposite sex.

Beer was thrown into the TV and with that we left to find better drinking accommodation. Walking up Portobello Road towards Notting Hill Gate we found a small pub called The Sun in Splendour (which we didn't know at the time), all we knew as we looked in through the bi-fold windows that the pub was filled with gorgeous girls watching football.

It soon dawned on us that the game was Sweden v Paraguay, and that all the gorgeous girls in the bar were in fact gorgeous Swedish supporters. At one table we counted nine girls to one poor lonely guy. Clearly this was a pub for us, and it would become a staple drinking hole for the pair of us over the coming years.

Ben likes Guinness, Old skool rock and the hour glass figure.

This is summed up best with our afternoons/evenings spent inthe Sun and Splendour. I'd buy Amstel, he'd buy Guinness. We'd end up having round after round usually discussing some geeky topic like best web practices or the latest apple products. Occasionally our eyes would stray and catch a glimpse of a girl walking past. The discussion would momentarily change to preferences then agreeing to disagree and then finally back to geek.

We had started drinking at the Sun because, well... I had a crush on one of the bar tenders and because they played fairly good music that we both relatively enjoyed, but mainly because of the crush. Ben knew this and he never questioned it even though I'm sure he thought what's the big deal? He always came along and was patient until just the right time.

I can't remember the exact words coming from both Ben & Yemi, but it was something like if you don't do it now, when will you do it?

So I got up from the table and for a brief moment all my taken workmates got to live vicariously through me as I went to my possible demise.

The truth is, it's me who lives vicariously through them.

I've been traveling through Europe and living in London for the past three years now. The transient nature of my life means that my friendships last on average no more than six months, and the average relationship, probably about four weeks before it creeps into my mind that there's no point to this terminal endeavor.

It's me who craves the ability to call someone up and hangout at their place, not go to the pub and get absolutely obliterated while trying to pick up the fairer sex (not that I'm any good at that anyway).

So Ben, you've been a fantastic friend for the past three years, and no doubt one for many years to come. You and Alice have a standing invitation to guest where ever I might be in the world and particularly in Australia.

You will come to the Whitsunday Islands and kick back on the verandah! We'll count the yachts as they sail by, you will have your Guinness and I my Corona and we'll eat garlic prawns from the barbie.

Oh and you will name your first born after me!