Merry Christmas
It was strange as I walked into my house for the first time in nearly a year. I saw my dog, Milly, again which I almost wasn't expecting as she was old when I left. I also saw the huge printed log of WheresThatLuckyBastard, 2 large A4 folders printed for my Dad and Nan and other non-computer people. I flicked through and saw my whole life for the last 10 months and had to put it down. I couldn't face the reality of looking at it at home.
Various parts of the house (including my room) had been decorated, so I had a kip in my new bed and got ready to go to The Archers (bar) to see all my mates.
From left to right its Emma (thanks for this pic) Ailsa, Vicky (my sister), Debbie, Tony, Billy, Dan and Paul. Craig's not in this one, but hes the one looking Gay in the pic above.
It was a good night, though chatting to Tony, (remember the cripple from Oz?) he prepared me for what to expect now I'm back. I think he summed it up perfectly when he said "Coming back is Shit. Its really, really shit."
I went to bed that night still in a surreal state, instead of counting sheep, I recounted every single night I'd slept in every single place. I could remember every one...
Next day, I saw all the family and had my second coming home do in Romford. (No one could agree on a night when they're all free so I had two.)
We were joined tonight by Tom (behind me and Craig), Robbie and Dave... sorry Johnny Rocker from Hurricane Party, (new single 'Crown of Thorns' coming soon) Amy (red hair) and her mate.
We went to a bunch of different places including Hollywoods and Secrets and got very drunk.
This is us outside the Pie and Mash shop. How very East London.
And at about 2am, this was me and Tom getting down to a bit of good old fashioned drunken morris dancing.
I nearly got into a fight on the way home which is a long and dull story but I ended up coming out alright and without a punch being thrown which was good. It was the closest (by a long shot) i'd come to having a fight in the last year. Why doesn't it suprise me it happened in Romford?
***
I went out a few more times before Christmas with my little remaining cash, I almost felt as hedonistic as I did before I came home. I went out in Romford with various people and even went up to London one night for my old Control Room work mates Xmas meal and piss up! It was great fun for a while but the euphoria didn't take long to wear off when I realised i'd be going to the same bars week in, week out.
Christmas was great! It was nice seeing the whole family all together and i really appreciated the whole size and variety of the Christmas Meal after eating so many bowls of Tuna Pasta this year!
For New Years, a few of us went up to Brighton (where Tom is at Uni) where we spent the night bar crawling and on the beach. My sister was out with the Hurricane Party mob (Rich, the lead singer lives in Hove) so I finished the night at his place with them.
By the first week in the New Year, I'd gradually got everything I wanted from my old room down from the loft and had put it in my new room. Everything was going into its right place. A place where it lived and I knew where to find it... As things slotted in nicely and had nice shelves to sit on I felt reality start to crawl up around me. The more I placed things, the more I realised the act of doing it further cemented the notion that I wasn't going anywhere.
My money ran out and I realised I needed a job. I didn't want anything 'major' as a career, just something to give me some beer money to tide me over till I worked out... till I worked out.... till... I dunno.
I bowled into the Hi-fi shop a 3 minute drive from my house and, with the confidence of a skydiving, bungy jumping, bring-it-on-meister said "I want a job. And I've always fancied working here" which was the truth. Richer Sounds is a pretty good Hi-fi shop all about customer service, I figured it'd be just what I needed to get my life restarted. The manager Ian looked at my CV and basically said "Can you start Tomorrow?"
I went home feeling good. Maybe everything will be alright after all!
(Boy, was I wrong...)