I caught up tonight with a bunch of ABBA-buddies.

Chris Patrick was in town, author of the book, ABBA Let The Music Speak, a semi-academic book about the music of ABBA.

Chris is a musician by trade, and an ABBA fan by nature. Thus, he’s written a book about ABBA’s music from the perspective of a musician.

And on arriving home tonight I’ve spent far too much time staying up reading the book.

It was lovely to see him. He’s such a lovely gentle soul.

And along with Chris, there was a bunch of other ABBA fans who’ve all known each other now for over thirty years.

I’ve been fan world since the 1970s/1980s also, though it wasn’t until I came to Sydney in the mid 90s that I became actively, socially involved.

How it’s changed my life, I can’t begin to fathom.

New friendships most of all.

And although there was some discussion of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Frida – and various rumours about an alleged meeting at Mono Music recently – there were a lot of other things to discuss also.