But we all do. We may not have any choice in selecting them as individuals but they are there for us all. Sometimes, however, we can also have friends who we regard in the same way as if they were actually part of our family, long term friends who have always been there and we have known them as they have grown older in the same way that we and our real family have. We don't really have a name for those who fall into this category - 'good friends' somehow doesn't quite seem to fit the bill.
Many years ago, long before this blog began, back when we had a young family, we sailed across the North Sea to Holland in a rather small sailing boat called Noggin the Nog. In hindsight this now seems like a crazy thing to have done with three small children on board but the outcome of this trip was that we met for the first time a Dutch family with whom we have remained friends ever since. 
This picture shows both dads, one British and one Dutch, rowing their similarly aged children around a harbour in Holland. We enjoyed each other's company in a way we could not have predicted, something that was greatly assisted by their command of our English language (we have since realised is common to many of their compatriots). But it did not end there. We returned a second time (in a slightly larger boat) and since then this family has sailed across the North Sea to visit us at one or other of our homes on several occasions.
The children, two girls, have also remained friends with us through the years as they have grown taller (Dutch people are the tallest nation on earth) and Maartje, the youngest, has come to stay with us on various occasions, even staying with us when we spent a winter in northern Italy many years ago.
So it seemed perfectly natural when she contacted us recently and announced that once again she was planning a trip to Scotland and would like to visit us. On this occasion, however, she would travelling by bike and would be accompanied by Leo, her recently acquired boyfriend. The idea of cycling across the country from their port of arrival, Newcastle, to the West of Scotland did seem rather ambitious at first but we know her from old as a very determined lady and anyway the bicycle is the natural way to travel in her home country so why should it not be possible somewhere else. After a little research we discovered that there are cycle routes mapped out running both north and south and across Britain which largely avoid roads, particularly busy ones, so we assumed that they would be using these when they could. Sadly, however, the weather did not play ball entirely and this must have taken the edge off some of their plans. Whilst both are keen cyclists - indeed Leo works as a cycle mechanic for a living - after camping for a few nights they made the sensible decision to book into a B&B and then took a train from Edinburgh for another part of their journey.
In their few days spent with us we took them for local walks and tried to give them a flavour of our world before they continued their tour. Their plans seemed to change rapidly each time we spoke but finally we carried both them and their bikes to the Cloanaig ferry terminal to save them a rather brutal hill crossing then waved them off as they boarded for the short crossing to the Isle of Arran.
Quite unexpectedly these few delightful days spent with our 'Dutch Daughter', as we like to call her, have triggered the arrival of some thoughts into our heads that did not exist before. If they could come across the sea to us with just their bikes, carrying everything they need, and survive happily in the mix of weather that has been thrown at them, might we be able to do something similar in Holland, a country so much more cycling-friendly? So we do some research.
We soon discover that there is an app you can have on your phone (of course there is!) produced by Nederland Fietsland which provides detailed information about a whole series of cycling routes across and around Holland. As well as avoiding busy roads these routes seem to follow paths specifically designed just for cycling where they can. The maps provided can also be enhanced to show cafes, campsites and potential overnight accomodation in bunkhouses too, all of which seems just too good to be true. Our bikes, being electric, might need recharging overnight and to avoid carrying too much luggage we would avoid camping but the possibility that we might be able to take a holiday in this way is quite exciting. Once again we are completely overawed by the different world that awaits us just across the North Sea, a world so much more cycle friendly that we might be able to step into and explore without many of the burdens that we would be faced with here at home. Added to this, naturally, is the fact that Holland is flat and we have found that we can pedal our bikes quite easily on flat roads here without using any electric power at all. To have a whole country at our disposal seems just amazing.
We must be realistic, of course. Winter is never going to be the right time for us to do something like this. We are not in our first flush of youth so we must chose a time when we have the best chance of better weather whilst also avoiding the height of the tourist season. Roll on Spring then.
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