This one is probably best logged by my vague recollection of what time things happened, rather than splitting the 2 days. It's been one heck of a time though and I'm writing now from my bed, tired and worn out from all the excitement! [edit] I fell asleep after writing one paragraph. Woops. Time to finish now then.
~~~~~~~~~ Saturday 6am – Snooze! ~~~~~~~~~
My alarm went off on time, and after a fairly good night's sleep for once I woke to my alarm at 6am and promptly hit snooze until I realized I needed to shower asap. I managed to be just about ready to be picked up at 7:15am for the lift. I was half asleep, had no breakfast, and was ready to face the day in my t-shirt and smart-ish skirt.
Once a year there's a reunion for ex patients, staff and their families at Clouds House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre run by the Action on Addiction/Clouds charity. For the last 6 years, bar one year I missed because Dean didn't want me to go, I've been there running the drinks stands. We have 2 stands, one at the bottom open for half a day and the other at the top near where guests register. My job every year has been to get the supplies up and set up the 2 stalls, run the top/main one for the day then pack down again. It's a job I really love because the atmosphere is always incredible, people still come back over 20years after they were treated, there's speeches in the afternoon from ex patients about how Clouds changed their lives as well as various other talks there. I haven't actually been to the speeches before, maybe next year I'll find someone to cover for me and go listen.
So anyway, one heck of a long day later I'm boiling hot and shattered from being on my feet all day in the sun with 3 giant urns of boiling water behind me.We packed up fairly quickly this year and managed to get away into the sunshine with the roof of the car down earlier than we have a few previous years. I'm already booked to go back next year – and I'm happy to do it. It may only be one day but it's a feeling of satisfaction knowing we got the job done and just helped it to all run smoothly and enjoyably for the guests.
~~~~~~~~~ Saturday 6pm – Crash! ~~~~~~~~~
12 hours after the alarm went off I'm frantically throwing clothes into the dryer and telling them to “get dry fast or else”. The original plan was to meet in Poole at about 9pm or thereafter to go to Bournemouth to the club, or I'd go to the club for 9 and meet the guys there. Thankfully I had a call from Dan to say just meet at the pub at 9pm and we'd see how we were going to work it from there. I crashed onto the bed and put my feet up as soon as the phone was down – knackered, hot, and in need of some relaxation before the night could start!
~~~~~~~~~ Saturday 8:30pm – DHIBs in the pub, awaiting further instructions ~~~~~~~~~
I left at 8pm with plenty of time to get fuel before leaving, and rolled up outside the pub at half past just in time to see Marcus parking his moped by the door. We went in and to my surprise nobody else was there, we figured most of them were probably in Bournemouth already so I got myself a nice cold pint of cider to start the evening and crashed on to the comfy padded seat in the corner to await the rest of the crew. Chris arrived for a while and despite our best efforts could not be convinced to come along with us. Shame, we always end up rocking out at the club to some kind of epic tuneage.
After a bit more time had passed Zac arrived, shortly followed by Dan who bought a round for us. 2nd pint was going nice and slowly until we decided it was time to go and the last 2/3 had to be downed. Cider is all well and good, especially Stowford Press as it's a good Dorset favourite of mine, but downing it is never easy when I'm not used to drinking that much liquid in one go anyway! Still, we headed out, dragging the 17yr old Marcus with us after convincing him he was 19 and would not need ID to get in to the club. Plan was if he didn't get in, we'd go elsewhere.
In the car we decided the 4 of us are a good weekend crew, and were promptly named DHIB (I think if I remember rightly) which stands for the Drunken High Insomniacs of Blandford. Brilliant! Much talk and driving later with some good music along the way, and a brief stop at my place to pick up booze, we arrived at Sound Circus ready to rock out.
~~~~~~~~~ Saturday somewhere near 10 or 11pm – Sound Circus, Indiana Jen and a swine with a water pistol ~~~~~~~~~
We arrived late and had to pay, despite my meagre efforts towards an Indiana Jones costume – seeing as it's how I normally dress anyway I dubbed myself Indiana Jen instead. When I saw Lay she gave me the bullwhip she'd promised to loan me for the costume for the night which was immediately good fun. Her boyfriend Nick was pissing everyone off with a water pistol so at various points in the next few hours he was whipped by me and some other dude who seemed to enjoy it maybe a little too much. I even chased him around near the bar after he filled it with coke and squirted me. Swine!
As for other costumes I should mention, Wez had made a good effort as The Joker and Lucy had gone for a female Superman costume which looked awesome on her, and the others had various costumes half of which I was too drunk to notice. I'll find some pics when I get online to put on here.
Me and Josh //Lotty // Wez // Lucy // Colleen and her new guy Rich who did a much better Indy than me // Nick // Lay // Awesome Dude - I went up to this guy and hugged him saying "awesome you're a stormtrooper" then realised right after I was stupid and wrong he's obviously a Scout Trooper. I kicked myself hard for that mistake. Amateur geekery ftl!
We danced to a few tracks and I had several more drinks, among the people we came across were Josh and Lotty who did plan for a while to beach with us but decided they'd rather get pissed and walk home – fair play to them! Zac didn't stay inside long, and though we were worried when we went outside his car was still there, complete with our stuff, and him sleeping inside. I don't think he really likes the club which is a shame because I absolutely love it up there and always have a great time. I haven't been online since so I'm sure I'll find the pictures taken both inside where I got my free drink or outside where I was whipping some guys ass. I was drunk, so I think this can be excused. It also started with me teaching some other girl how it should be done, then this dude seemed to enjoy it and I was in hysterics with laughter too so it's all good, right?
My last drink, which was probably the worst plan in the world, was a cocktail known as “A Shit in the Woods”. I got one for me and Marcus seeing as he wasn't drunk enough by my standards and had no money to buy his own. Dan paid for me to get in so I figured I had a few extra pennies and couldn't find him to repay the favour – his loss! So anyway the Shit in the Woods was basically Southern comfort and WKD blue in a pint glass topped up with coke. Fucking hell was it bad! I mean really potent stuff! By the time I'd had most of it I passed the last quarter to a drunken Lotty who was happy to take it off my hands. Didn't look right her drinking that crap while she was dressed as Audrey Hepburn but hey, she was with Josh and I don't know what the hell he was supposed to be but he looked like a badly facepainted clown in pyjamas. Kind of pulled the classiness of Lotty's pretty long dress and fur/faux fur shoulder thingy.
~~~~~~~~~ Saturday/Sunday 1am – DHIBs ride on, and why wine is a bad plan ~~~~~~~~~
We decided we were hungry and headed off to Maccy D's all night drive thru. I do not remember what the hell it was I had but I only ate the burger part of it, and it tasted vaguely edible. I was really rather trashed and food in afterthought may not have been the best plan with the events later. But still it was good at the time. We drove around for a while deciding where to go and wondering about Studland until someone made the choice to just head back to Sandbanks where we knew we enjoyed it.
We got there and parked up, leaving Marcus in the car to sleep and went down on to the beach. I opened the red wine rather than the cider and shared it with Dan on the bench while Zac went for a long walk. Not sure what's up with him but something seems wrong – if I knew the guy I'd ask but I don't and I'm not trained in mental health yet so maybe I'd best leave people to their own devices. Helping sometimes seems to have the opposite effect. When he came back he crashed down on the sand and we joined, sat comfy in the dry.
Now, I have a problem. I'm not a guy, I have more dignity than to just piss out in public. But the real problem was all the public loos were closed and I was being left with little choice left. Being completely and utterly drunk I made the decision it would keep more dignity to run into the sea instead. Bad move! Damn that wine! It didn't feel cold and I was fully clothed anyway, except my shoes which I remembered to kick off first, and swam out to the yellow blobs fencing off the swimming area and back again, taking a pause when well out to sea to relieve my dignity. I was drunk, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it.
When I got back on to the beach I didn't feel cold but apparently had turned a funny shade of blue. I'd swallowed a fair bit of sea water and was a tiny bit sick 3 or 4 times on the sand. I actually still felt sick a lot of the next day which turned out to be the result of incorrectly puking, most of it had become lodged in the cavity between my nose and throat and I didn't realise til I took a deep breath later in the day and discreetly swallowed what must have been at least half the burger again. What can I say? It was the first time I've ever been sick from booze, and was fairly lucky I didn't choke or anything. Dan kept insisting I get up and go change, but I was stubborn for a while and wanted to stay sat. I don't want to get that drunk again I'll stop before that. I was, as I said, not feeling cold at all but had changed colour to something in a pale white and blue.
I wandered up the beach with my bag until I found one of the cold showers, which felt warm again, and washed the sand out of my hair and clothes before finding somewhere discreet to change into something dry. When we got back to the starting point Zac was fast asleep on the sand and we decided to take a walk instead, probably a better idea for sobering me up. We went as far as a grassy knoll, which didn't have any snipers on, and stopped on the rocks so Dan could roll a cigarette. Filthy smokers! We wandered back up the beach where I had to change tshirt again because the previous one had just got wet from my hair and was making me cold again. Once that mission was accomplished we sat on the beach again a bit longer talking and waiting for our driver to wake up, then all went back to the car to wake Marcus up and move on.
~~~~~~~~~ Sunday 6am – To the garage! To the market! To the....wherever... ~~~~~~~~~
The garage we'd been to the week before seemed like the best plan to head out to and get coffee/breakfast. I went for a bacon roll and bought some pastry thing for later, while the guys did similar and had coffee to wake up/stay awake. Plans were made and again Studland beach was mentioned and I think we drove a bit that way but didn't end up there. We went to Wimborne market instead and bought a couple of DVDs then looked at the games stalls and a place so full of Star Wars models etc I proclaimed I wished to be buried there when I died. We spent a good time there before moving on to Tesco to see what was around and pick up a few things. I bought the cheapest possible lemonade with the last of my pennies to wash away the remains of the illness mentioned earlier...
After that there was more talking and deciding until we ended up going back to Wimborne town to see if the camping shop was open. From the back Marcus and I tried to point out that it's Sunday and they wouldn't be open especially not in a quietish strange little backwards town like Wimborne, and when we were proven right the plan changed to return to the market then go back to Blandford. I really didn't care as long as I could sit down a while and drink some lemonade, even if it did taste like cheap carbonated water with a few drops of juice squeezed from a plastic lemon.
~~~~~~~~~ Sunday ??am ish? - Back to Blannie ~~~~~~~~~
So we went back, Marcus and I picked up our vehicles from their resting place at the pub and thanked various entities for finding them in one piece still just as we'd left them. We met back at Dan's like the weekend before and played a few rounds of Smash Bros on the Wii. Worry not fair reader have not turned to the dark side. Not only did I use Solid Snake 90% of the time, and woo for his nikita missile move, I also tried time and time again to convince of the wonders of the PS3. There was a 360 there, so it was a step up, but it only had one controller. No good for 3 tired gamers without an epic pass the pad game like Worms, which is available on the PSN I should mention so there.
After a while we were all too unfocused (brain ungood) and moved on to watching The Big Lebowski. It's a film which I think is probably best appreciated when stoned and or drunk, but funny nonetheless. It was vaguely enjoyed by all until the end where Dan then went on a huge rant about how it doesn't conclude anything and leaves the entire story open and unfinished. Oh well. The second film was chosen as DeathProof, which looked to be a male equivalent of a chickflick but actually turned out to be a chick flick in disguise. It got so boring we skipped through loads of the talking bits and missed nothing of the plot! How long do you want to spend listening to a group of only-vaguely-attractive women talk about fuck all in a car, then a coffee shop, then a car again before there's any action! The car chases were fairly good but the plot was an absolute travesty. Most pointless film in the world. Turns out it was recommended by Lay which made sense as it was essentially a film about an evil bloke then women get revenge. Like Teeth only less disturbing.
Zac left after the second film, and the 3 of us played more Smash Bros until it was time to depart. Another fucking awesome weekend over, with a few bad decisions that I'd like to put into the catagories of “it seemed like a good idea at the time” and “what happened in Poole/Bournemouth, stays in Poole/Bournemouth. Nobody who doesn't read this need know about the wine or the illness. Don't worry poor reader nothing else happened that hasn't been mentioned. The blog does not lie, it tells all....
~~~~~~~~~ Sunday 9pm ish – Home again ~~~~~~~~~
It was somewhere between 9 and 10 when I got back home to Dad's in Poole, knackered I crashed on the sofa, had a cuppa and something to eat then spent a while on the sofa half asleep with cat on lap until I managed to relocate the cat and go to bed. This was where I planned to record the weekend but to be honest after all that and no sleep in between I was shattered. So I'm on the sofa now writing on to a word document before I head out to get some internet in the park and post this online with a few pictures hopefully. My saltwatery and sandy clothes have been discreetly washed and I'll hang them out to dry before I go. It is unknown when DHIBs will ride again, but we are an established crew now so I'm sure it will happen and here be documented. Preferably next time without what was pretty much the start of hypothermia.
~~~~~~~~~ Monday 12:30pm – Onwards ~~~~~~~~~
I've been to the job centre this morning, been to the bank, wandered through town and then come home and written all of this. I now need to try and remember everything I used to jointly own with the ex and put it in to a coherent email to send to his father along with the list of which of those things I think should be mine. This week I need to collect the last of my possessions and I can only hope that I get everything which is owed to me in a fair and easy manner. I don't think I'll be taking up the offer from the ex to meet somewhere and have a chat. He contacted me on the PSN and wants to get together and talk about stuff because he misses me as a friend apparently. Unfortunately I think I may just have to decline there, he's the last person I want to see especially considering my own personal realisations about him. Not that I'm a weak fool who would go back, or fall for the “oh I'm so lonely pity me and forgive me” shit but it's just one more thing I don't want to have to deal with. It has been on my mind a bit and is one of the many reasons I felt the need to get trashed this weekend. Well, mission accomplished, now to get on with the week and try to do something interesting with it.
~~~~~~~~~ Final Thoughts ~~~~~~~~~
I'll still try and leave you with my little daily reflection here, so here goes.
We define ourselves not only by what we say and do but also by the company we choose to keep and how we keep them. We can make ourselves distant from even people near to us and be close to those far away. When you think about it, the people around you are the people who will influence you and who you are whether you like it or not. Love thy neighbour, love thy enemy, and thou shalt love thyself.
Jenivere Out
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