Blasts from the past

I worked on Saturday night and came face to face with someone from my rather distant past.I guess it had to come one day, now that am working in an area I grew up in, but I wasn't quite prepared for the experience.
As I took handover to my patient,the patient's surname reminded me of a boy I sat next to when in secondary school. He was a terribly popular character that had a "jolly hockeysticks" attitude to work and the universe, while I was a rather shy, awkward character, and although we were not friends in the truest sense of the word,he made my rather quiet A level years, bearable.
I had not seen him since 1980,so when he walked to the bedside to visit his seriously ill wife, I think we both had a bit of a shock, after all there isn't really a recognised protocol for this sort of social situation.
Living here in Wales occasionally flips you back to those faraway teen years I can now hardly remember. To be honest I would prefer to forget most of them as it was never a really happy time for me, but just occasionally, history grabs you by the scruff of the neck and forces you to remember.
Tomorrow is Uncle Bert' funeral, and tonight Judy is coming up for dinner. so I think we all can enjoy a reminisce about past times before the seriousness of the church service.
Meeting my old classmate, in a similar vein, tweaked bitter sweet memories that ought to be remembered just the once, then perhaps be left well and truly in 1980;.