The Terrific Two

Revealing some secrets of a secret society

May 26, 2026

This story was originally published almost 5 years ago on June 17, 2020 on Facebook. In this version, I’ve added some images and a few more details.

But first a song about the dangers of social media:

… as I acknowledge the irony that something really good came out of it.

How to Lose and Find an Important Friend Twice in Your Life

Last year in August, after many years of searching on Facebook, I finally found my long-lost childhood best friend.

Tracey and I first met at Wembley Infants School when we were 4 years old but then her family moved from a small flat in Chalkhill Estate (council housing)1 to a house in a different part of North West London.

In the cold and unfriendly architecture of Chalkhill Estate, I found the warmth of my best friend. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was still living in Wembley Park, in a three-storey house that belonged to my Dad’s youngest brother, along with the families of his other brothers; one family per bedroom. “Ola2 Garé3” (as my sisters, cousins and I still call it) was a five-minute walk from where she used to live. After she moved, I visited her new home in Kingsbury once for her birthday party. On that day, there were perhaps 12 to 15 other children there, including her older brother and sister, and we played lots of fun games like Musical Chairs and Blind Man’s Bluff. I succeeded in winning one of them — it might have been Pass the Parcel — and, for my prize, I received a circular jigsaw puzzle featuring a picture of game birds.

This might be how my love of jigsaw puzzles began. I totally remember working on the bright feathers of the pheasant and the details of the snow… (Photo credit: eBay seller)

“SSS” is for Something Street Saturdays

And then Tracey and I somehow lost touch, I don’t know why. Perhaps because our family moved out of Ola Garé to a rented house in North Wembley. I missed her a lot but remembered her address to be 22 Something Street (ie. a street that began with an “S”). I got an A to Z and looked up all the streets in Kingsbury that began with an “S.” I begged my Dad to assist me in my quest to find her. My Dad agreed without any hesitation; he was so sad to see me so sad. Added to which, driving around London was one of his favourite things to do.

For I don’t know how many Saturdays, we’d drive up an ‘S’ street, stop outside the number 22 and, with my Dad behind the steering wheel, ready to drive to the next one on the list, I’d get out of the car to walk up the to the front door and knock.

Um, does Tracey Spring live here?

I’d get a bunch of shaking heads, puzzled looks and smiles. (I was a cute and earnest kid). The answer was always a variation of “no… sorry, love.”

You won’t believe it but eventually, after a few Saturdays of driving around with my Dad, I rang a doorbell and Tracey’s Mum opened it and looked down at me astonished!

Tracey, come down… there’s somebody here to see you, she shouted to the upstairs.

I had found her!

Oh my gosh!

Tears streaming down our faces.

I never thought I’d find you!

And thus we joyfully reconnected and saw each other almost every weekend after that.

The Birth of the TT

Tracey and I were both fans of Enid Blyton’s books (The Secret Seven, The Famous Five), so we created a ‘secret society’ for ourselves called The Terrific Two. To formalize our collaboration, we made badges4 out of cardboard and wrote the letters “TT” on the front, and a safety pin taped to the back. When we were together, everything we did became an adventure: walking around a field to find “treasures”. Going to the park and listening to the “voices” inside tree trunks. Making up funny stories about people as we walked to the shops. We were perhaps too adventurous sometimes because I remember one incident in Kingsbury Cemetery involving a ‘ghost’ which had us so spooked that we ran away holding hands, crying and screaming, vowing never to go there again.

The Case of the Chocolate Trilemma

A delicious anecdote from that time involved sweets5. I had gone to her house one Saturday and, immediately upon arrival, she presented me with a multiple choice question:

If you had to choose between a Creme Egg, a Flake or a ~~bag of Maltesers~~ Galaxy, what would you pick?

It was such a tough decision because I liked them all, but eventually I opted for a Creme Egg, since my Mum never bought those for us (she was strictly “pure-veg” and didn’t like the thought of us eating eggs even metaphorically). However it didn’t matter what I chose, because it turned out that Tracey had purchased all three of those items for me with her own pocket money, and my first pick only meant that it would be the one I would receive first! I couldn’t believe how many sweets my friend had bought for me. We gorged ourselves on chocolate that afternoon.

TT: Torn Apart by Circumstance

Then, when we were 10 years old, Tracey announced to me that she and her family were emigrating to Sydney, Australia. I was heartbroken, truly devastated. Tracey meant so much to me, I felt like she was the only person who really ‘got’ me. A few months later she left on a ship to Sydney and, since my Mum was an Avon Lady, I gave her a goodbye gift of ‘Pretty Peach’ bath set.

Avon Pretty Peach Bath set…. it might have been this one. (Photo credit: eBay seller)

Tracey wrote to me from the ship and we stayed in contact through letter-writing for years. The next time we saw each other again was when when we were 16 years old and she was visiting London with her Dad. I remember her wearing a coral-coloured outfit and thinking she was so much more grown-up and sophisticated than I was, which wasn’t hard because I probably looked about 11 years old at the time. I don’t know how or when we lost touch after that (I have a box of letters somewhere which will tell me when I last received mail from her) but ever since I joined Facebook, I searched for her periodically. I gave up about five years ago (and also deactivated my own FB account for a couple of years during that time).

Micro-Columbo Strikes Again!

Finally last year, I started my quest again, tried a different tack, went the extra mile, dug a little deeper and found who I reckoned must surely be her Mum and her sister (my Columbo skills are still sharp!) and then I finally found a profile that said “Tracey Spring.” But the profile had no picture, so I couldn’t be sure. I sent that person a FB message and also sent a message to who I was sure were her Mum and sister because it didn’t look like Tracey’s profile was active. Then I went to bed.

TT: Reunited Again

The next morning I got a message from her saying she was in tears. She told me she hated FB (smart cookie) and had only joined a few years ago so she could find me, that she and her Mum had messaged every single Neshma on FB that might possibly be me, even if they didn’t look like me, to no avail.

It’s not only incredible who she is and what she does now (and like everyone who knew me from when I was a child, she is pretty surprised about me too) but also how close we still feel to each other. Same face, same voice, same kind, smart, sensitive old soul.

Two months ago, about a month into Covid, I finally decided to tackle a task I’ve been wanting to get to for years: I sorted through ALL my photos (I had tons, a giant orange Tupperware’s worth. I put them all in chronological order, categorized them, threw away the rubbish ones and the duplicates. It’s why I started this FB album “Reminiscing” a couple of months ago), and finally I found one of us together. It’s the only pic I have of us two and I’m delighted there is one!