I don’t exactly know why I took a photograph of a cup of peanuts at the pub on Friday night. I mean, I’ve always been reminded of that statistic – though it’s probably an urban myth – that when tested, the average hotel bar peanut bowl contained traces of fourteen different urine samples. Yes, that’s right girls, it’s boys who go to the toilets who don’t wash their hands, and then immediately afterwards, grab a handful from the peanut bowl.
In the midst of the peanut picture, there are many other fun photographs of friends, Graeme and Andrew as we went out for a drink or seventeen on Friday night. Meeting up at about six o’clock after work, we chatted about life, the universe and Britney Spears over a couple of beers. Before we knew it, we were sitting in a takeaway on Oxford Street eating food that probably contained more salmonella than would be fit for human consumption, but which I have a natural resistance to, having consumed so much of it over the years. And then minutes later, we were disco dancing at Palms.
I don’t go dancing much anymore, although I used to really love going out on the town. “Come for a dance”, Andrew said. “No, I replied. I’m only dancing if Kylie comes on”, which I think Andrew regarded as a refusal for the entire night. I think he thought I was one of the social-phobic dancers who will only get on the dance floor having consumed a beer or seventeen. Minutes later, Kylie came on and I was on the dance floor faster you could say, “Better Than Danni Minogue”. It was a great Friday night and much fun was had by all.
And then last night I went to a dinner party, the first dinner party I’ve been to in quite some time where I was met some entirely new people.
“Do you know how to carve?”, one of the guys said to me as he was asked to take on “the man’s task”. “No idea”, I replied as it’s been ages since I’ve cooked a roast myself. It then led to one of those confused discussions with seemingly no end in sight, about whether you carve with or against the grain. After considering a range of options, including chopping up the very beautiful and tasty roast into “chunks”, the roast was finally, beautifully carved.
Going to a dinner party where I knew only one other person is something I haven’t done for quite some time. But when I received a call yesterday from a workmate inviting me to dinner, I decided to quickly address my usual social phobia and accepted the invitation. And I’m really pleased I did, because, although I was the odd one out in a group of long-term friends, I felt incredibly comfortable, and they were all very welcoming to “the new guy”. It’s great to be adventurous.
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