Two portions

Andrew and I went to Knowlesbeck Arts Centre last night to see the farewell performance of his mate Geoff Marchbank’s R&B band Sure Enough: Geoff's flying off to Trinidad with wife Rosette at the end of the month. Andrew and I sat down for a drink while the band sound checked. Rosette was smaller than I remembered her, and she was there with her brother Taylor and his young and pretty wife. She was darkly silent. Sure Enough played old rock numbers including ‘Twist & Shout’; I could see Geoff’s honest open bespectacled face cringing as he sang back-up. There wasn’t a good reception from the sparse crowd, just a smattering of applause and some semi-heckling from two twats down front.

A couple more of Andrew’s old school friends were there too so we all left for the Old Bell Tavern: crowded, noisy, a loud and alcoholically festive mood. I ran into Sean Barker: “See that bird over there in the green top? I picked her up last night . . .” etc. He said I looked “doped up,”  asked me if I’d tried any drugs, and then told me I wore silly clothes and had a silly hairstyle. He regards me as some sort of druggy weirdo: all the school lot who've stayed in the old Egley Grammar school mold think I'm so odd-looking.

After last orders, Andrew and I walked home. We bought fish and chips on the way and talked with alcoholic frankness about not fitting in at home once you’ve left and how people are boring. Mum and Dad had already gone to bed so we stuffed our faces with two portions each.