After four bottles and lots of chat we decide to move on to somewhere we can dance and being the age that we are, the last place we want to go is a nightclub full of kids falling all over the place so instead we head for a bar we know that stays open late and always has great live bands playing, with enough room to dance if we want to.
The bar is packed when we walk in to the sound of 'Is she really going out with him’ being sung by just about everyone in the place. Oh dear….70’s & 80’s night, this is going to be loud and we will probably get emotional at some stage too, that’s usually the way things went when the four of us and vast quantities of alcohol and songs from our formative years were involved, funny how music does that, evokes so many memories. Joe Jackson reminds me very much of my school days and growing up in London, well it was Essex really but since we moved to Australia it had been easier just to say London. Everyone has heard of London right? And this song and no doubt the rest of what would be played tonight just reminded me of England. Music was something that had helped get me through when we moved here in late 1980, I was 13 and very angry and made a conscious effort to only listen to music from the UK charts. My friends would send me mix tapes recorded straight from the radio and I would lay in my room listening to them and cry, desperate to go back to the place I loved….Home. Once I had my own children I came to realise why my parents had made the move, why they had wanted to get us out, to give us, what they hoped would be a better start, and it had been, it was, I have lived a life and done things my friends in Barking could only ever dream of….but at the end of the day, I was an Essex Girl and as the saying goes…You can take the girl out of Essex, But you will never take the Essex out of the girl….Jason has always said Essex is to blame for my smart mouth and he is probably right…let’s face it “Oh she’s very quiet, must be an Essex Girl” Is a sentence said by no one…ever …. But I also like to think it has given me that little something extra when it comes to my sense of style, that edge, the need to be just a little bit different, not just in my fashion sense, which always draws comments and something Jay had always loved about me, at least he had always told me he did, but who knows now days?…. But also in my work….people have always liked my interiors, mainly because I like to do something different, not way out weirdo different, just things that are not usually seen in Australia, well they are but maybe 2 years down the track. Phew, all that from one song, that’s what I mean about music evoking memories, good and bad. I really hope I can hold back the tears tonight, the lump I have in my throat is almost choking me right now
We make our way over to the bar area, order a round of shots to get us started and then our drink of choice: Vodka ... Me opting for my usual mix of lemonade with a twist of lime. We do the usual scan of the place, nod and smile at the faces we know and then move over to the edge of the dance floor, all of us now feeling relaxed, happy and in the mood to dance. The band starts playing a song I know and love ... The Clash....Should I Stay or Should I Go? And the irony isn’t lost on me, I swallow back the tears. The vodka tends to make me emotional…especially when mixed with wine…and cowboys. What? Please don’t make out this isn’t what all girls do on a girl’s night…well it’s a normal girl’s night to us. Anyway, emotions aside….. I’m not letting him spoil my night. So off comes the jacket and on come the dance moves.... And the singing... Oh the singing. I know I can’t sing, never have been able to but that fact has never been known to stop me and I pick up an empty beer bottle, holding it in front of me like a mic and start going for it at the top of my lungs. Jemma joins me and we know the looks of admiration we received as we walked in, are now stares of WTF but we don't care, we're having too much fun and I really need to vent. Should I stay or should I go is followed by an almost word perfect rendition of American pie, every verse! Luckily for the rest of the patrons the band is now stopping for a fifteen minute break. Jo is at the bar getting us another round of drinks and as I look over I can see she is talking to a bloke and I can’t help but smile. Jo is a joy to watch when she sets her sights on some poor young thing, she should hold classes…. ‘Cougar Classes’ Watch out Mornington…Jo Myer is on the prowl …Rarrrr
“Uh oh. Jo's on the pull lock up your sons”
“Naaa” says Lulu “He’s far too old for our Jo; he must be at least .... Thirty”
We all laugh at Jo’s expense, apparently a little too loudly as the bloke she is chatting to looks up and catches us all… WOW ... I’m not actually sure if I really have my mouth open as wide as it will go or if I’m just doing it mentally, in my head, I can only think…. WOW. The sight that beholds me... Is just ... He is just ... Perfection? Very tall, longish, dirty blonde coloured hair and even in the dimly lit bar, I can see he has the most amazing blue eyes....Yes definitely perfection!
“Loz, close your mouth...... Loz…... Lauren” Jemma elbows me