While the rest of us are enduring lockdown, lets us take joy in the enduring friendship of Tomas Brolin and Dr. Alban.
On the surface, there's plenty to link the pair: both are bona fide Swedish legends, and both were most prominently in the public eye in the year of our Lord, 1992.
That summer - in tandem with Martin Dahlin - Brolin helped knock both England and Sweden out of Euro '92 en route to a semi-final defeat to Germany.
One of the soundtracks to that heady summer was the thumping Eurobeat of Dr. Alban's breakthrough hit "It's My Life", which reached no.2 in both the Irish and UK charts and was omnipresent on MTV. Good times.
On Friday afternoon, Brolin gave us a reminder of sweet sweet freedom when he posted picture on Instagram of he and Dr. Alban enjoying some delightful cocktails.
'How random!' one might react. Not so. For the friendship of the ex-Parma and Leeds striker and the ex-dentist goes back almost 30 years.
Flecked between reminders of Brolin's occasionally glittering career (mostly focused between 1990 and 1994, to be fair), and vignettes of his picturesque Swedish life are reminders of his old pal, Dr. Alban.
The pair also linked up prior to Christmas, with Alban getting good use out of his personally-branded tracksuit tops.
Delving back into the summer, we can also see the lads enjoying some outdoor drinks. No monogrammed top for Dr. Alban this time, but he does continue his trend of avoiding alcohol while the others go full Brazil-Parlour.
The pair also got to celebrate Mr. Brolin's 50th birthday together.
And how could we forget this? Back in 1999, they crossed the streams by forming a veritable Swedish musical supergroup.
Together with tennis icon Bjorn Borg and Mattias Frisk they comprised Friends In Need, releasing the single "Alla vi". If you have the spare change in the current climate, the CD single can be found on Discogs for the princely sum of €0.88.
Had it ended there, it would have been enough. But no, with Brolin and Alban there is always more.
Naturally, a music video was made. It finds our Friends In Need clad in white suits in the back of a limousine like the pure ballers that they are, dancing badly to their own track. Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven.
May nothing ever come between the dearest friends of Tomas Brolin and Dr. Alban. It's their life!
