Wow. What a weekend. I really don't know where to begin! Right now I'm on the comedown from it all and don't really want to forget a second of it. It's been one of those absolutely packed weekends that didn't let up for a minute!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thursday ~ Clubbing on Beach Night ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll start Thursday, as this is where my weekend began in a way. I set out to go to dad's old place, to help the packing and moving for Friday. I got word along the way that there would be a few turning up to the club in Bournemouth that night so I decided to give it a go depending how the move was going. Unfortunately as we had no keys to the new place, once the van was loaded full that evening there wasn't uch more we could do, but a little hoovering and some food then rest for the night. So after dinner I had a quick check of what was happening clubwise and changed into a few things to fit beach theme night to get in for free and claim my free drink, thereby spending as little as humanly possible.
I got there on my own, feeling rather self conscious at being the first of our group in the door with our favourite/normal seats all taken I tried to call one of my mates a couple of times to see if they were out the back smoking. After about 5/10mins of feeling like a bit of a lemon, I got a text to say they were coming in and went to the entrance hallway to meet them. Hugs were distributed, and I was then carried in by one of the guys who insisted on hugging me and picking me up by the waist to take me through the door, the others did call back a quick hurry up which was replied to with the classic line "I have a Jen!" - bless, it's good to have friends with that random craziness I enjoy! I spent a fair part of the early evening talking to this particular chap, who had just come back from download, and bought him a couple of cheap drinks because I pitied him for listening to me talk rather vaguely about some of the things on my mind and keeping me company while everyone else was too busy with their boyfriends/girlfriends/fags to hang with us.
I guess the first hour or so, I was mainly sat either with him, or with the other 2 of my mates there who aren't in relationships right now and too besotted with their other half to acknowledge the existance of someone who's not in a similarly rose tinted couple, though saying that I spent a fair amount of time sat alone as well. I had a lot on my mind, and not being able to drink (driving home) was bringing me down a bit, I felt it was difficult to loosen up and get to enjoying the night. At one point the owner's partner came around taking the photos for Facebook and shot this snap of me on one of the sofas alone.
Later, the owner who was doing the DJ'ing for the night beckoned me over and gave me a ticket for a free drink which he later took a pic of me holding just below the booth. I put in a few requests and he played all 3 in a row - I think it was at that point I really let my hair down. I "danced" (read - headbanged and awkwardly shuffled) to all 3 of my songs, and had joined in a couple before half heartedly but it really did cheer me up a lot and remind me I wasn't there to dwell on things but to enjoy myself despite them. Though I can't forget what's troubling me right now, I can't change it either, so I try to think about it as little as possible so I don't end up on a downward spiral.
Last thing they did that evening at the club was the prizes for the costume competition, not many people had bothered getting beachy with it, and as I'd spent the night doing the impossible - "dancing" in flip flops - I thought I'd head over and smile sweetly with fingers crossed. Unfortunately I'd been stood by the seaker for a good portion of the night, I thought I heard him say when he looked at me something like "good effort, but not this time" so I tipped my hat politely and headed out a couple of minutes later with my mates as it was kicking out time anyway then. We'd just got across the street to their car (I was parked a short way off) and were saying goodbye when someone pointed to something over my shoulder. I turned around and there was the club owner, in the wetsuit he'd worn to get into the spirit of the night, holding a bottle of wine out towards me telling me I'd won but he said they had to get another bottle (3 people won this time, and they only had 2 in the booth). So I thanked him profusely, especially for running out after me in the middle of the street in costume, and headed home to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday ~ The House Move ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So it was then Friday, 3am by the time I slept knowing the entire house move had to be done by midday even though we had no keys. Luckily Dad had the garage key so he and my cousin had taken a van full over and filled it the day before but there was still a hell of a lot to do. While I'd been out they'd managed to box up most of the kitchen stuff, bar what we needed for breakfast. 7am rolled on in and Dad brought me up a cuppa to get me up. I groaned and thanked him before slowly making my way vertical then downstairs for a bacon sarnie breakfast. As soon as we were done, it was time to start moving. As my knee still has trouble I couldn't do a lot of carrying and lifting or going up and down stairs, so the first job for me was to hoover the rooms as they became empty. As soon as we'd cleared the upstairs, I was moved on to the task of cleaning the kitchen. It was a huge kitchen, with a lot of cupboards that really needed scrubbing out before anyone could move in. With a neck pained and stiff from headbanging the night before I spent a good couple of hours getting it all cleaned.
Time went on and we finally got keys and took the van over, along with 2 of the cats. We only had 2 cat boxes, and one blanket, so I donated my jumper to one of the boxes. The cat pissed on it. Stupid fecking cat. She's lovely, yes, love her to bits, and she is ill, but could she not have waited literally 5 minutes? That's all it took, probably less, to get between the old place and the new. So anyway, we finished the last of the cleaning, including sweeping out the shed which was so full of dust I could hardly stop sneezing long enough to handle the broom, then we found the last of the 3 cats and shuffled her in to the box ready to go with us and briefly met the new owner of the house as they rolled up with their removal people. We got to the new place, emptied the van between us, gave the cats some food in the newly dubbed and very tiny cat room, and went on to take the van back to the hire place.
Once we'd dropped it off,we picked up some shopping, and went home where I was put in charge of tea and sandwiches. The afternoon seemed to go by pretty quick after that, and when the sofa was in position it was generally decided we'd had enough for the night and wentout for pizza. I slept so well that night I was fast asleep by midnight, and up at the usual 8am on Saturday. A good job well done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday and Sunday ~ The Pub, The Road Trip and Sandy Shoes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday started with a lazy breakfast and everyone deciding what to do. I knew I had to pop over to Gillingham at the very least to email over some info to my old teacher who had kindly agreed to give me a reference for my Uni application if I could just catch him up on what I'd been doing for the last few years and give him something to include. There'd also been talk of going to the club that night for masquerade midsummer night's ball night, which sounded like fun. The thing was, the plan was originally I would go to my best mate's house, share a taxi and stay at her place after. Unfortunately she'd been having some...disagreements...with the character of some of the usual people who go (they stopped inviting her out, and she had come to realise a few things about who they are and where they were when she needed them over the years) so when the taxi turned out to be booked up (we use a friend's relative's cab and get half price or we can't afford it) she decided it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to find enough people who could drive and convincing them to take all of us who were going to take the 6/8seats in the taxi. Plan B was formed, which was going to Blandford (which happens to be about halfway between Gillingham and Poole) and going to the pub then all go home because her mum had to work early too and it was decided that it would be easier if people didn't stay over.
Plan B turned out to be meeting in the park and sitting around with some booze (or in my case, no booze because I was meant to be driving home) in the sunshine, just the 4 of us girls, then heading up to the pub. We walked it to the pub, I was carrying my incredibly heavy bag and bike gear (I had thought it a good plan to take some stuff with me to the new place) and picked up chips on the way. Louise and I seemed to walk a bit faster, with my best buddy chatting away with our other companion behind, and she offered to let me put my stuff in her car outside Wombat's place rather than carrying iy to the pub. She also then offered to give me a lift to the carpark before we went home which was really very nice of her. We told the others and mished on up to the house, and were just about to leave back for the pub when they appeared at the bottom of the street saying they wanted sauce for their chips and to finish the booze from the field before we went on.
So we went in, sat, ate, and then went to the pub in Lou's car. Being the first ones there at about 7pm despite being an hour later than the discussed time, we played a few games of pool, singles and doubles, as a couple of other people drifted in. A few of them I knew, a few I recognised, a few I didn't recognise but had probably met a fair few times when absolutely pissed. I spent a while talking to Dan about games, in the traditional way that every time I go to a pub someone always ends up forming some type of geek corner and talking about games seeing as I really don't know enough to join in the general gossip and convos that go on between the main crew.
We all watched some more games of pool and eventually as people slowly left there were only 7 of us left sat around the table when kicking out time rolled in. It was only midnight and we stood around in the carpark working out what to do. There were 2 people driving, and the rest of us relying on or asking for lifts home, but not everybody wanted to end the night there because we were having so much fun talking. We thought about going to the club, but by the time we would have got there it wouldn't have been worth paying to get in. Louise was tired already for the drive home, and Wombat was unsure about going anywhere if there wasn't anything interesting to do there and seemed to want some time as well to talk with Dave so that really left the 4 of us wondering what to do.
2 of us had bikes, one at the pub there and mine back down by the park. The driver got a bit bored waiting and went to get burgers while we worked out what to do. I decided I didn't want the night to end early and they had offered for me to come with in the car wherever they were going, or at the very least to drop me off by my bike if we all just went home. I grabbed my bag and gear from Lou's car, and stood with the guys wondering what to do next. I'd met Dan a few times so I could talk to him, but the driver Zack (I have no idea if that's how to spell his name) I'd met once and spoken to for a short while and the other moped dude Marcus (not entirely sure I'm remembering his name rightly now which is dreadful considering the weekend after this point) I'm sure I may have met a couple of times but had never really spoken to. Nerves were there to say the least, seeing as I am atrocious with people, but I decided it was about time to make new friends so when the car rolled up with burgers on board we all hopped in and went to move my bike to Dan's house so we could go off on a drive.
Starting in Blandford, we made our way to Poole to see if late night bowling was open. Unfortunately, it was closed so we drove up the road to Bournemouth and were deciding whether we wanted to beach it or not, when we realised it was nearly 2am when the club closed and decided to drop in on the people there as they left. We saw Wez and Lucy outside and hugs were exchanged. I went with them to the shop to get a sarnie while everyone else was smoking or waiting for the others to come out. We saw the dude I'd spent that early bit of Thursday with who looked absolutely shocked to see me there and asked what the fuck I was doing and gave me a hug, then Colleen and Chris T came out who live in Poole. Dan wanted to catch up with Colleen so we invited them to join us, they were more up for some food so we agreed we'd meet at Maccy D all night drive thru and take it from there.
A few burgers and my sandwich later, the Colleen decided she was too tired to carry on with us, so they drove home and we went over to Poole beach. Parked up and with Dan and Marcus sparking up more smokes, yes readers a bit of the old weed, we wandered on up the sand. We sat on a bench for a while because the smokers needed to rest, and all having the same childish sense of humour we were laughing about sausages and everything else related to innuendo that happened to pop up (ha bloody ha) in conversation as we went along.
This is why I really prefer hanging out with the guys. Much as I adore them, when I'm with all girls the talk nearly always ends up on people who aren't there, the kind of gossip I know nothing about and don't tend to get involved in much even when I do. In fact I do my best to only talk about other people when they're not present if either I'm worried about them or sometimes if they've done something particularly wrong which they really need to be set right about. With the guys it always seems much more easy going, and I may have a few moments worrying ever so slightly about ulterior motives I'm quite happy to relax as just another guy and enjoy the easygoing company. It's just so much more laid back then being surrounded by girls. Maybe it's because most guys prefer to keep their problems bottled up, and either shut out anyone who cares or eventually tend to unleash the pent up tension on those closest to them - which to be honest can really be a mistake because it pushes said people away and makes them constantly wonder what they've done wrong and whether they're even liked at all...but that's of course got nothing to do with this record of the weekend....I'm going off on a tangent...back on track!
We wandered further up the beach, and back by a roadway and ended up back at the bench we started on. With the others smoking and walking generally much slower than we are used to I spent more of the walking time talking to the driver, seems like a nice enough guy if a little vain (I have heard his friends teasing him about that a bit, even in the car, so it's not just my brief observation and certainly not judgement) though in an almost worrying way didn't mention his girlfriend despite Dan bringing her in to conversation a couple of times. Maybe he's just having a problem with her and doesn't want to talk about it, he did look a bit distant a few times when we were all walking or on the bench together. Not entirely sure though, like I say I'm really bad with people sometimes because I'm simply not used to being around them.
Back to the bench and continuing the epicness of the evening, dawn was rolling in, Marcus was so stoned he was dropping in and out a bit bless him he's only a young'un. We thought there wouldn't be much point in going home then, and decided to get fuel and coffee to keep the driver alert. With Marcus in the back with me fast asleep we all went in to search for munchies in the garage shop. I settled on an ice cream which was probably not so good a plan on afterthought and the guys had sandwiches and coffee as we sat in the parking space there. The plan emerged while we were munching that as the next day had already started we'd better crack on and do something with it, so the road trip to Weymouth began. Loud music went on, which was absolutely brilliant to be driving along in the 6am sunshine listening to classics and a fair bit of rawk too - highlight of the trip was listening to the song used at the end of The Breakfast Club, it suited the mood of the trip so much I was one step away from punching the air!
We hit Weymouth around 7, parked up and headed on to the beach in the ever warming sunshine. The guys typically just crashed out on the sand, one obviously going right back to sleep after asking where the hell we were. The other 2 drifted a bit, either both talking to me or one talking while the other slept. I was really in no mood to be sleeping, the energy drink I'd had through the night kept me going! At one point we noticed the little shop open so Dan and I left the others sleeping to wander over and get an ice cream. Yes, that's right, breakfast was 2 ice creams. Healthy! Eventually when everyone was awake, we went to put some more time on the car for parking and spent a while in the town wandering about and looking in shops.
Energy levels were slowly going down a bit so by midday we left for the drive home. I'd bought some cheap alternative to Pro Plus and after having just over double the reccommended dose and handing them out to everyone who wanted and needed a bit of a perk up, I was a little bit in and out of reality on the way home. We got back to Dan's and though the driver went home, Marcus and I accepted the offer to go in and watch a couple of films rather than ending the day there. We spent a good couple of hours playing Super Smash Bros on the Wii, although its not exactly my console of choice it was epic fun and we all had a good laugh! We then went for a film, and seeing as I hadn't yet seen it and am a huge fan of the other Kevin Smith films we watched Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Funny film, but the fairytale ending and loved up plot didn't sit comfortably with me, I do hope nobody noticed that. After we watched Airwaves, which was an awesome slice of filmage also, then decided that at now 6pm the weekender was over.
We slowly headed out of the house and said farewell, I was actually quite thankful then that we'd moved my bike there and not left it at the park all night because it was so much easier to hop on and go! I offered for the guys to come over sometime when the house move was sorted just to hang out and play some games, and told them more than a few times just to drop me a line whenever heading pubwise because I'd be more than happy to join. We also agreed at one point the night before we'd do it all again sometime with a tad more planning and some disposable bbq's on the beach. I really hope we do it was such a random, spontaneous and chilled out weekender it was just what I needed to relax!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunday ~ Fathers Day and A Blast from the Past ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got in at about 7pm, dad wasn't home having gone over to see my little sis on father's day, so I sorted out the card and small gift I got him as he rolled up on the drive. I made us both a cuppa and was about to sit and catch up after the weekend when my phone rang. I'd missed a couple of calls while driving, but seeing as the number wasn't one I knew I decided against texting back and finding out who it was. the same number was ringing, and now that I could I picked up. I didn't recognise the voice at first, and in fact I don't think I'd ever actually spoken to him on the phone, but it turned out to be a guy I hadn't seen in 5 years. Renzo and I were never particularly close, but then saying that in school I had known him vaguely since I started and used to hang around with him and his mates for most of yr 11. In 6th form the little group of us disbanded and I ended up with Alex, Dean, Sam and co, but we still saw each other in Biology for the first year before he left to go and "work in McDonald's and study for an open university degree" as he said at the time.
The whole time I'd known him he'd mostly been with one long term girlfriend, was a devout Christian, and was just generally a really nice bloke. Well, it turns out 2 of those things have changed, and the poor guy has been through a fair bit of crazy happenings and ended up working as a chef in Sheffield of all places! He says he got fed up with everyone from the South, so I think it's a shame we didn't stay in touch really but that's just how it goes. We spent ages talking, and caught up on a lot of the last few years we've not spoken. I've invited him to the camping trip I'm organising in Poole for August, and also am considering going up there to visit for a few days as he offered. It would be amazing to catch up with such an old friend, and seeing as he's still the nice bloke I used to know I think it'd be great to chill out and in a way meet each other again because well I'm not sure about him but I have changed a heck of a lot since we knew each other. He also sounds like he could do with a hug too, they're not very huggy up north and don't share the sense of humour we all have here down south.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monday ~ Coming Back Down to Earth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do hope that through this weekend I have gained some new friends and will regain an old friend who I wasn't sure I'd ever hear from again.I've now been writing for well over 2hours and need some breakfast, it's gone midday this Monday already and I need to at least get out to the park if I'm going to upload this crap on to the blog you are now reading! Congratulations if you actually managed to get through all that, I wrote it mostly to just remember it all! Actually reading now to make sure I didn't miss anything out while I breakfast on hot pastries. Nom nom nom!
A couple of things I forgot to mention were some of the quotes that came out of the conversations we had. Other than the sausages always coming back in to conversation somehow, we also had some other moments of brilliance. Like the Black Books quote "go there and await my instructions" kept returning with much giggles, along with my epic slip of the tongue which resulted in someone thinking I said "dawn is near here" (it's near dawn now was a perfectly reasonable thing to say but it has now been taken to mean a time of day is in a physical place....oh dear). The other thing was when Dan got a bit paranoid about there being potential chav stabbing on the beach, we came up with the escape plan. The guys run the other way while I take my top off as a distraction and hand out pills (painkillers). Seeing as I can't run I'm the best choice for bait and while the chavs are distracted the guys can be well away to freedom and safety. I'm not too sure what my escape plan will be but it may just end up with me drinking Red Bull in the same way Popeye has spinach and declaring Mortal Kombat as loud as possible....or they could come back in the car and rescue me which would be a million times easier!
The cat has now sat on my leg and he's clawing it methodically. I'll need to go out soon to the shop for a hairbrush then to the park to upload this pile of brainvomit. I think the weekend can be counted as an all round success though, despite the fact a few things remained the whole time in the back of my mind. It's difficult too without the main use of the internets I can't keep in touch with what's going on with a couple of things in the way I might like to, and with now nearly no credit remaining I can only text between 7.30pm and midnight which is a real bastard when there's something I should reply to but can't, then when I can I just don't know what to say any more. Sadface. Woops.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Final Thought ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People aren't quite like yoyo's. The more you draw them in and push them out the weaker that string will be, especially if you leave them dangling at the end. A heart is not a toy to be picked from the shelf and put back when not needed, it may fall and when it hits the earth it will break like a china doll.
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