Catching up with the past.... any photos?...

Well this last weekend was a weird but good one.... I did a bit of time traveling... back to 1999... and partied like it was....1999,

back to near the pub (below) where I used to work behind the bar for 3 years...

It now lies derelict, unloved and unused ... a tragic victim of the smoking ban and cost of alcohol....

I remember going in through the doors many a time, to be warmly greeted by punters and friends alike even a good year after leaving its smoke filled rooms....

But that all changed, the last night I was in there was the best part of 11 years ago, at halloween.

How do I remember ... well I lent someone my previous halloween costume... that of a zombie, basically a raggy suit.. and dirty shirt...

I lent it to one of the current members of staff, (after a quick trip home as petrol was cheaper back then)... said my goodbyes at the end of the evening as normal, attended one of my colleagues wedding... and then disappeared into the ether... I seemed to have just cut them off... they still had my number.. but none called...

They weren't the only one's.. another part of the same group... I attended an after Ann Summers party... stayed till the following Sunday morning... and then vanished...

I often wondered what was going on in this friendly group I seemed to have so readily left... one of close friendships and a fun times guaranteed... but each of them would have involved drinking heavily no doubt at some stage, (which I wasn't that great at, but was quite good).... and also maybe it was me that had to change and get out of this routine...

I went back after an invite from an old friend W.

I've known W since I was 17, him being 21, both of us worked in the same factory in my native town. I'd come from a training scheme just up the road and joined this draconian workplace. Clocking in each morning, and repeating the same routine for the best part of 4 years, until the day someone said.. "If I could draw like that, I'd not be here"... so 6 months later... I wasn't.

There was a load of good times, the camaraderie that this factory contained, has never been equaled. Fridays would roll around and we'd all head into town to and go out for the evening, doing a 6pm till 2am, as this was the time that clubs shut, then onto the all night snooker rooms, followed by the sobering walk home (which were an adventure of their own)... Sometimes though a trip elsewhere came about, Blackpool, Alton Towers or horse racing....

But with it being the early 90's having a camera was a rare or a girls thing...so there are very few pictures (mostly odd angles)... but if you was lucky enough, there was the odd few on pub wall montages, including ones of family.... but as with many of these times, they are not physically recorded for posterity, they are simply remembered by the grey matter in my head, all be it a little foggy at times...

We had many nights of the same old thing of doing the pub run into town at least 3, just into town... 4 or so in the town centre, eventually ending up in this ruff biker pub.... upstairs, before we proceeded off to our 2 night clubs....

Also in the past on a night out, I had to dress more conservative, sometimes in a full suit, as it was the policy of nearly all the nightclubs not to let you wearing anything but shirt pants and shoes.... so as said before many of these times are not recorded....

So this was my life for a few years, (that many of my current friends know nothing about)....... even when I returned from college, with too much hair, (W used to grumble), I'd do an odd stint behind the bar... before getting invited round to W's new years parties... (it was also nice that I had a crush on his younger sister L for years, who I must admit looked as nice this weekend). Then once in a while ending up on the floor a little worse for wear...

But then come, the dawn of the new century all this changed, I too them just disappeared one day... not to be heard of till bookface rejoined us together.... which I'm so glad it did...

So after this reunited time at W's 40th doo, falling off the wagon of my self imposed exile on booze, getting to walk through the door and immediately getting recognised as if I'd not been away for a decade.. seeing some familiar faces I'd missed.. some not having changed... it was great and a fantastic evening followed...

But it did make me realise some of the best bits I did walk away from, even W came out with somethings we used to do..... in the end it showed what it really matters some true friendships that will always be there, easy to be rekindled by a simple appearance...

and there was always W's sister .. ha ha... (who after nearly 18 years I got to have a good laugh with, learning she's just like she used to be, clever and attractive and another great friend and I'm still on her kitchen wall montage..)

And as a final note... I did forget my camera.... damm it...!

A trip to Alton Towers, Wet and Fun... One Eye, L, W and Me about 1995