Mahinda’s Little World

 

Festive 5th Ave’rs

…she said,
“Oh, baby, I feel so down.
Oh it turns me off,
When I feel left out”
So I walked out,
“Oh, baby, don’t care no more,
I know this for sure,
I’m walkin’ out that door.”

I don’t recall them playing that at 5th Ave last night, but it’d surprise me if they didn’t.

I left work just after 5pm, with the plan being to meet Linden and her teachery mates for a drink at The Old Cock. It took TWO SODDING HOURS to get from Altrincham to Didsbury. TWO SODDING HOURS! I won’t go into details (it’d make me too angry); it’d suffice to say that the M56 was absolutely dead.

Evil 5th Ave Snowman!

Found Linden and Ed, and had a swift pint before dropping them off at the Red Lion, nipping home, getting squash stuff, and heading straight to the Sugden Centre to play squash with Mark, etc.

We had three courts, and there were seven of us playing - Mark, me, Luc, Sean, Jon, Rimko and Dan. I played everyone once, and Mark twice, and won the lot. I was pretty chuffed, as I’d not played for about six months.

Headed to The Pub (formerly Scruffy Murphy) to join Pete and Rosy and watch Doncaster Rovers ALMOST knock Arsenal out of the cup. The Arse won on penalties, and celebrated as though they’d just been crowned champions of Europe, rather than scraping past a lower league side. Alison, Linden and Ed joined us, and a plan was hatched - 5th Ave!

Searching for a victim…

Drove home, changed and got the bus back. Met up with the others in The Garrett…to find that it was only Pete, Ed and Linden! Absolutely shocking behaviour from the rest of them. We had a short each (tequila and Coke for me - GREAT stuff) and headed over the road for indie club goodness.

It was a really good night, and the four of us danced like loons until closing time.

Memorable moments for me:

• Pete being handed a passport that blatantly wasn’t his. Unless he’d become a weedy-looking chap with glasses.
• Finding Steph (whose name I couldn’t remember until Linden asked “Is that Stephanie?”)…and then finding her passport on the floor.
• Bumping into (almost literally) Hannah, one of the dancers from the Altrincham panto. My first words to her? “How old are you?!” Ooops. 17, but keep it quiet. Think I scared the bloke she was with. It makes me feel old, to be honest - seeing someone in 5th Ave who you remember as a 14-year-old in a leotard.
• A bloke and girl offering to buy my round if I ate a whole cigarette. Looking back, maybe I should have done it - I was really close to going for it. Talked to the girl a bit, later on. Turns out that they found someone who managed it, to much general amusement.
• Inflatable evil snowman.
• Top Christmas tunes.
• Generally happy vibe (except for one minor fight).
• Pete dropping kebab juice all over his jeans and the floor of the bus.

So there you go.