Five years on, O'Donnell has joined a stream of credit crunch debtors crossing the Irish Sea – or the Northern Irish border – to go bust in the UK, which is a far friendlier place for those drowning in debt.
Thankfully he relented when he heard my breath on his shoulder once more and we settled into a friendlier pace – chatting occasionally – bemoaning the high sun and long straight roads lined with cypress trees but devoid of shade, which reminded me of hot summers in Italy.
Changes in family structure and parenting styles often lead to closer, friendlier and more positive relationships between parents and young adults, but this can also generate mixed messages for young adults, sometimes leading them to feel more anxious about separating from their parents and facing the challenges and risks of the outside world.
One of my colleagues said that those who did use the metro, who had to use it to get home, were much friendlier than usual, but also wary of young north African-looking men and the frequent halts between stations.
The fancy computer graphics these days might soften some of the complex edges, and make the molecule appear friendlier, more appealing, but that's not enough if you can't get a handle on how the protein fits into the scheme of things.
Others, friendlier to Britain, nonetheless believe Mr Cameron has behaved badly.Even Britain's favoured solution to the euro zone's woes pushing for Europe to become more competitive is widely seen as a selfish alternative to solidarity rather than as a bid to help.
On Tuesday he was no friendlier to the Arkansas contention that shifting facial-hair patterns make inmates unrecognisable to prison officials.
Now spring is making conditions in the mountains friendlier for the Chechens.
The government claims that this will make the Commons friendlier to MPs with families; the Tories that it will give the opposition fewer opportunities to make trouble.
Mr Clarke's enthusiasm for the euro requires him to make Conservatives friendlier than they feel to the European Union.
But as the oil price fell Russia has not (so far) become any friendlier to the West nor to its neighbours.
