"I dive in at the deep end, you become my best friend, I wanna love you but I don't know if I can"

As work finished on Friday I immediately caught the bus over to Northampton. A little quirk of fate had meant that Crisp Fiend had also gone over an hour before me & was going to the same place as I, up on the Kettering road. As I walked up the road I was half expecting to bump into him walking back towards the centre of town.
I didn't.
I did however notice a police car that had pulled up outside a shop with some degree of urgency. "Ooh, I wonder what's going on there" I thought to myself. Then I went about my business & thought no more of it.
I found out today that Crisp Fiend was actually sat in that very police car, handcuffed & perplexed. Apparently there had been a robbery in one of the shops there & as Crisp Fiend fitted the description of "Shortish, thin white man with dark hair" the old bill simply grabbed him, cuffed him & bundled him into the car! He said he was very scared & that he was only released when the shop owner pointed out to the plod that the criminal was actually still in his shop & that he'd never clapped eyes on my poor crisp devouring friend before in his life. They let him go with just a cursory "sorry".
Feel safe on the streets?

After concluding my business & buying some new trainers, a couple of pairs of jeans & a top I marched off down to the train station.
"Return to Brighton please"
"When are you coming back?"
"Sunday"
"Which way are you going?"
"...?"
"Which route?"
"...? Well, through London I suppose"
"£40 please"
"...!" (complete with shocked expression)
(preceeded with a roll of the eyes & a sigh of almost suicidal proportions)"If you change at Watford junction & go via Kensington Olympia it's only £28.40"
"Well, I'll go that way then!"
Bloody miserable cow! Why not just tell me the deal instead of trying to fleece me, after all it's not like they're on commission is it?
Ooh, imagine that "Edinburgh sir? Yes you should change at Bristol Temple Meads that way you get a lovely trip through the cotswolds sir, lovely at this time of year. That'll be £217 please sir!"
Anyway I digress...

So I change at Watford junction & walk straight onto my connecting train to Gatwick Airport. This was a little bit of a pisser as I'd hoped to get a quick smoke in before boarding the next train. I got on & it was pretty busy, I found myself sitting opposite a reasonably attractive (if a little bit heavy on the make up) woman of about 30. We kinda half smiled at each other. I gave Humbert a rest in case a conversation was in the offing. Of course being English people on a train it wasn't. Well not until 10 minutes before Gatwick when she asked me if I knew how much longer it would be as she was "dying for a fag" & explained that's why her leg was jiggling about. I pointed out that my fingers had been tapping the table for the same reason & we had a little laugh. Then we got off the train, watched each other spark up & that was it. Wouldn't it be nice to just have a chat with a stranger to pass the time on a dull journey? Us bloody English folk!

The last stage of the journey was only about 20 minutes or so. I did notice on my trip that the south of England just simply looks different from the midlands & the north, nicer almost.
I got a taxi from the station to the hotel where I joined the rest of the posse who had been there since lunchtime. They were just getting ready for the night out so that worked out pretty cool.
I quickly showered & changed & off we went.

The full group of us consisted of It's A London Thing, Sound But Spitty, 50%, If The Wife Caught Me Smoking, Babyface, Loadsadosh-Kindaposh & myself. Loadsadosh-kindaposh is a veteran of the very first London Baby! some 5 or 6 years ago. I've only ever met him on these weekenders but he's cool & it was nice to see him again. Remind me to tell you about the first time I met him, sometime.
We headed down to the beach where there are a row of clubs & a bar on the beach front. We met up with a lovely girl from Crapsville who'd moved down to Brighton a year ago. She told us that one of the clubs played indie tunes on Saturdays so we all agreed we'd go there on the next night. We hung out with her & her friend for a couple of hours, all the time I was playing catch up in the beer stakes. And they were going down so nicely!

Just after 11 it was decided that we should hit a club. We were turned away from two because we were a group of guys, grrr! As we approached the next one this guy gravitated towards me...
"Pills, Charlie, Wiz?"
"Pills you say?"
"Yeah, man"
"I don't want no shit dude, I got ripped off last time I did this"
"They're sweet man, have a taste"
So I did & bought a couple for a tenner.

We then walked into this club called The Beach. We entered unchallenged & didn't even have to pay. I made a beeline for the bogs & popped my pill.
They were playing old school rave, stuff from the start of the 90's like The Prodigy's "Charly", Moby's "Go", etc. It's A London Thing was in his absolute element, he was a raver from that generation. I'm always a bit miffed that I missed all that. It was the defining scene of my generation, it was our punk, our summer of love, our time & silly bollocks here was listening to Erasure & setting up home with a boring woman.
Anyway, as if The Nolans had whispered "I'm in the mood for dancing" in my ear, I too found myself digging the tunes & doing my bit on the dance floor. I didn't stop for another 3 hours. That said I really didn't notice the effects of my E until we left at about 3am.
Whoosh, up I came!
That's a bit bloody late I thought to myself.
En route to the hotel we all stopped for burgers & stuff...
"Not eating Flash?" pipes up If The Wife Caught Me Smoking rather quizzically
"Nah mate" I said & looked at It's A London Thing who gave me a knowing little grin.
See, I reckon that unless you're totally off your tits & being really out of control, the only people who can tell you're on any kind of drug are the ones who have been there themselves.

So that was Friday.

Saturday started with the requisite visit to the cafe for a full English breakfast, yum! We then all descended on the Crazy Golf down on the front. It was so much fun! The 7 of us just having a laugh & taking the piss out of each other. At one point when I got the 2nd of my hole-in-one shots I was greeted by a rousing cheer from not only the boys but a group of old folk who were watching from the promenade above. Not one to milk applause (ahem) I held my club up to my lips & mimicked blowing some trumpet of triumph. Hey, the oldies loved it, I tell you!

Then it was Footy time. The start of the premiership season was greeted with lots of beer & chit chat & that's pretty much all we did all afternoon til about 7.30 when we nipped back to change into our going out togs.
This is where things went off the boil a bit for me. To explain this I need to give you a bit of background. I've recently had a bit of a problem with my laundry. Due to my flat not having a garden or a tumble drier that works, my clothes get hung out around the flat after being washed, usually in the bathroom. I found that this method had a major drawback; When I got warm or started perspiring my garments would start emitting a musty pong! I've since been informed that fabric conditioner is the answer (always did wonder what the point of that stuff was!). So I'm sorted now. However the shirt that I threw in my bag for Saturday night was washed pre-fabric conditioner. Almost as soon as we went into the first pub, I could smell it. I don't know if anyone else could but I could & it made me feel very uncomfortable. It became worse when the next place we went in was roasting! At this point I decided that my other pill would be going home with me. I didn't need any extra sweating thank you very much, I was minging enough as it was. Then we were refused entry into the indie club that I'd been so looking forward to. And despite consuming almost double the amount of alcohol that I'd done the previous day, I could could not seem to get drunk. Something else was amiss too. Usually on a Saturday night like that I'd be very much on the pull but I didn't want to.
Why?
Nice, that's why.

So at midnight I made my excuses & left the rest of them to it. It had already been established that we wouldn't be going to The Church on Sunday & that we'd be home by the back end of the afternoon. So I sent Nice a text saying I was missing her & that I'd like to see her Sunday night if she was interested, which naturally she was. So I went back to the hotel & that was Saturday.

Sunday involved nothing more than breakfast & the journey home.
In summation though, I did have a great time. Sometimes it's just good to break from routine & cut loose. Brighton itself was a well cool place & I could certainly imagine myself living somewhere like that if I had no ties.






Nice arrived around 6ish. I suggested that we share the E that I still had, she was mad for that.
Oh we had such a wonderfully beautiful night. For the benefit of those who may not know, one of the most prominent effects Ecstasy is that you feel a lot of love, hench the expression "Loved up". It amplifies your warm feelings. There was a lot of love in my flat last night. I really like Nice & I know it's mutual, but last night it was really special. The only things that stopped me saying the words themselves was the knowledge that the E was probably turning everything up to 10 & the stone cold fear of actually allowing myself to fall in love again.
Between me & you though, I think it may be too late to stop it.

As the night drew to it's close, we were lying in a blissful post-coital cuddle, holding each other really tightly when Chris Martin started singing to me (& Nice too I suspect)...

"I dive in at the deep end
you become my best friend
I wanna love you but I don't know if I can"

followed shortly after by...

"You & I are floating on a tidal wave together
You & I are drifting into outer space..."

Aaaah.

Next thing I know it's 5 o clock this morning & Nice is getting up for work. Bless her, I really felt for her, but I saw her when I started & she said she's been fine, if a little bored without me being there.

Now my head's all over the place & I've had the first verse of "Pylon in the rain" in my head all day. It's the song that, if my vision works out as it should, will be the opening track of Album2.

"Itching
twitching
nervous system not responding to anything
I recognise this feeling
I'm reeling
But don't remember what to do

Aching
shaking
my heart is close to bursting or breaking
With every new day that is dawning
comes a warning
not to make the same mistakes again

but you've left me buzzing like a pylon in the rain"