Thursday night was a great night and ended up being somewhat of a dichotomy because it was a "boys night out" which ended in us spending the evening hanging out with lots of girls. But then that's what happens when you go to a gig to see your friend's all female band.
It was Alex's band's second gig, and I was somewhat dubious that we could make it there in time. They were playing in Chelmsford at 8.30pm and I wasn't due to be home from work until just before seven. And let's face it, a cross-county road trip on the M25 isn't normally especially quick. Jake and Danny however convinced me that it could be done, and after the world's quickest shower, I jumped in the car with the boys and we were on the road.
Now, not that there's anything wrong with Danny's driving and I'm especially not one to comment as my friend's loving (I hope) refer to me as "Driving Mrs Daisy" (hey, there's nothing wrong with respecting the road!); but I did at times feel like I was in the Delorean and we were all heading back to 1955. The only silver lining of that being that the whole lesbian thing would avoid awkward romantic encounters with my mother. Joking aside, Dan is a very good driver and he got us to the pub in record time. Mental note, don't insult the dude who always drives so that you can have a drink.
It was really nice to have a few beers on a Thursday (it's been a while since I last went boozing on a school night...it always makes me feel 17 again) and was especially nice to see Alex's band and friends, all of whom I've met a couple of times now and really like. When My Heroine (the band) hit the stage they were excellent, and while I'll admit that I'm somewhat biased as it's a good friend of mine kicking arse on the drums; Danny (who is annoyingly knowledgeable about music and goes to gigs all the time) was equally blown away, which is a pretty good indication of how good they are. As my saying always goes, it you can impress the angriest man in Kent, you can impress anyone! Now to get him to read my novel...
After the girls had finished they were followed by a thrash metal band (let's call them Screamy Screamerson and the Screamers - which is much more accurate than whatever they were really called), and the lead singer (who was all of fourteen and had braces) opened with "Come on you f***ing c***s", which in my opinion you can only do if you're Johnny Rotten playing at the Astoria. Doing it to a room of 20 people doesn't have the same effect. Can you tell that I wasn't blown away by them? They in turn were followed by what was effectively a cover band, who were so unremarkable I can't remember any of the songs they played and my only memory was of one of them "power sliding" off of the stage. Funny, yet at the same time tragic.
The real winner of the night was some of the ludicrous chat up lines that the pub had on display in the toilet. My favourite chat up line has always been the "Are you a vet? Because these swans need attending", however "You may have lost your virginity, but can I have the box that it came in?" may now be a close second. Too far over the mark (yet still pretty funny) was "Are your parents retarded? Because you're pretty special". Not quite as subtle as "losing" a wedding ring for an evening but a good start.
As the evening was drawing to a close, we ended up drinking with the girls and some of the boys from "Screamy Screamerson", who were actually really good kids. But they were kids...whilst I'm not over-the-hill yet at 27, I wasn't exaggerating when I said that one of them looked about fourteen. And the eldest was seventeen tops. I think when they went to school the next day their stories of drinking with the girls will be greatly hyperbolised. But they were nice kids, and one of them let me try on his hat, which was a ri-hi-diculous bobble monstrosity which had mohawk. That's right, a mohawk. Admittedly with my ten-year-old leather jacket (which is awesome and I'll kill anyone who says otherwise) and my wardrobe full of geeky T-shirts that reference everything from Star Wars to He-Man, I've never been on the cutting edge of fashion, but SERIOUSLY a hat with a built in mohawk?!? Yet somehow I pulled it off (or at least that's what I'll keep telling myself) and I think there's a photo of me in it floating somewhere in the ether. Let's hope it never surfaces.
Anyway, after all that fun, and me even getting to drop some of my "Lantern" knowledge (note to self, must remember the whole motto before Friday without using the internet), we were off home. The junction to the M25 was shut, but that wasn't a problem for Danny's magic car (seriously it was like being in Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang...if Chitty had been a Renault Clio with a Yoda on the dashboard) and we still had time for a dirty Mackers before bed.
Then Friday ended up being one of the most hideous days of my professional career, so in hindsight I'm really glad that I had such a great time on Thursday.
The best thing about the evening was that Jake and Dan had such a great time that they can't wait until the next gig so we can do it again. And you know I'm on it like a car bonnet, so maybe I'll see you there?
I'll be the one in the mohawk hat.
No comments:
Post a Comment