Cancer as a friend

YOU’RE ON to a good thing here. Cancerians make cherishing chums and marvellous mates. If you become a buddy, you’ll automatically also become part of the family. Everything that applies to your friend’s brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, will apply to you, too. For good and bad.

That means you’ll have to behave in the same way to your mate, being kind and caring. You can tell him or her when to go home, when to leave you alone, and when to stop sympathising, or interfering. But do it gently. Cancerians, bless their crabby cotton claw coverings, can ring you up and say ‘How are you? All alone? I’ll be right round to keep you company’ when you really want to be by yourself. If you say, in best Garbo style, that you want to be alone, your sweet, sympathetic Cancerian will Instantly be replaced by a cranky, crusty, crabby crustacean, who will take it personally.

They really are fantastic friends, but they often take things too much to heart. Cancerians don’t stand aside from their fun friendships enough, turning them into embroiled and emotional experiences. Many Cancerians will have platonic friendships for a couple of years, and then suddenly get an urge to jump into bed with their buddies, and they can destroy the relationship as a result.

Cancerians love to look after the people they care for, and one of their favourite pastimes is getting all their pals together under their roofs and giving them a good feed. They like to socialise in their own homes, and though they’ll have the odd drink-up down the pub, they’ll be the first to say, ‘Everyone back to my place’. Cancerian chums are also devoted, and will defend you to the hilt, as they will defend anything they care about.

Your Cancerian pal will be delighted to dash round and dole out tea and sympathy when you need it and hold your hand over the chocolate cake. He or she would like to have a good natter, and lots of Cancerians indulge in the teeniest of small talk. They can have great gossips about the shelving systems in supermarkets, which is all right when you don’t fancy discussing whether the chicken or the egg came first. They like rather prosaic pursuits, such as going shopping with a close chum, and they adore their little habits.

Cancerians don’t expect too much razzle dazzle from their friends. They like cosy, comfortable carryings-on, and adore going to jumble sales, winter fairs, summer fetes, spring bazaars and autumn bonfires any season is a reason to rummage through a lot of old junk and they love weddings.

A treat for your Cancerian pal would be a day out with you, ambling around a lot of antique shops, because most Cancerians collect old things of one sort or another. Just don’t expect your pal to want to do anything too engrossing or enterprising. A Cancerian’s energies are all directed towards the family arid fireside. So, when it comes to friendships, the Cancerian simply needs someone to chat to, and have a good gossip with.

As this is a Water sign, the Cancerian may enjoy messing about on the river, especially if you’ve packed a picnic basket. This is also the sign of mountain streams and lakes, so why not brush up on your yodelling and amble off to Austria together!

Don’t forget that Cancerians absolutely adore history, so they’ll enjoy going to see old edifices such as Stonehenge or Edinburgh Castle. Their lunar sensitivity means that they’ll be able to absorb the atmosphere to the utmost. They also love old films, and some Cancerians start sniffling the second the credits commence for sentimental old stuff like The Wizard of Oz. It may not be because they are sad, so much as the fact that the film will remind them of their childhoods and how happy they were. In fact, anything that reminds these Cancerians of their pasts will be bound to be a big hit. Just remember to take along a hanky for when the floodgates open!