Bonding, Boozing and Bantering

Having been left to my own devices for two weeks while Ant's away walking in Spain, I've been keeping myself busy, reaffirming old friendships and cementing new ones. Several of my close comrades have recently split from their partners, and so are back on the party circuit, and in need of the comfort of old friends - and whilst I'm sad for them that their relationships didn't work out, I'm delighted to be seeing more of them again as a result. The wonders of the www have also facilitated the renewal of regular contact with another, rather less gregarious chum, with whom I've been chatting online most days in the last couple of weeks. I don't make friends all that easily (probably due to a combination of my intolerance and perceived stand-offishness), but recently I've been pleasantly surprised at the surge of kindred spirits to have crossed my path. On Friday I spent a drunken night in the pub with two of these new mates - Harry and Nick. I'd met Harry down in Exeter at Brian's 30th a few weeks ago, and we'd stayed in touch via myspace, so I was pleased when she said she was planning a visit (her first) to sunny Brighton. I knew she'd love it here, being a self-confessed eco-warrior/hippy chick, and felt honoured to toast her first pint in my beloved home town. Nick joined us later in the evening, and so the hardcore banter began. I've known Nick for a while through mutual friends, but we never really hit it off until recently, possibly because we are in fact rather too similar - both scathing loud show-offs! But we'd finally clicked during our recent West Country jaunt, and established a playful repartee (in between rum-swigging and improvised 12-bar blues) which was re-ignited in the Park Crescent on Friday, much to Harry's amusement. After four pints of rather nice German beer, I bounced back home up Southover Street, listening to Kasabian, and smiling at fellow revellers falling out of pubs along the way.

On Saturday, after a much-needed lie-in, Harry and I met up again for lunch, both mildly jaded from the night before, but soon revived by the wholesome fare on offer at the legendary Terre a Terre. After a little retail therapy, during which I purchased some cute disco-pirate-esque shoes and a floaty summer dress, I hopped on the train up to London for a long overdue reunion with some old friends from my first publishing job. Molly -who escaped the underpaid world of books in favour of a career in law - was celebrating her 30th birthday, and I hadn't seen her since my own big three-zero, 18 months ago. It had been even longer since I'd seen Michael (who still works at Frances Lincoln), and so I was chuffed that he made it along too. Having warmed up with a couple of beers (Belgian this time) and some nostalgic chitchat, I hooked up with Mat, who was heading down to Brighton for a big house party, to which half of Brighton had apparently been invited. He and I only met properly at Christmas, despite having several mutual friends in common. Our friendship was born during the mayhem of Matty's 30th party, at which a shared sense of humour and mutual horror at the various goings-on kept each other sane (almost). After a jovial, rum-fuelled train journey, we alighted at Preston Park and found ourselves once again in a den of hedonistic frivolity - a typical Brighton house-party in other words. I was surprised to see a couple of work colleagues there, as well as several good friends, but not so impressed when the police rolled up and arrested two party-goers. This pretty much killed the atmosphere for me, and it felt like a good point to escape the madness, whilst also saving myself the embarrassment of becoming completely out of control and possibly telling the police officer that I loved her. I reckon this was about 3am - quite respectable for me really. Sunday was spent sleeping, eating and generally basking in the pleasant glow of amity. To any of my friends (old or new) who may be reading this - thank you for being so very lovely and keeping an old bird happy! Let's do it again soon...