Saturday, November 24, 2007

Rah Rah Fridays


This was a familiar pose on a Friday afternoon for a trusty trio of friends. We would gather around 5:00pm at our favourite bar. There was something very Sex in the Cityesque about it all - except there were only three of us, and we could never agree on just whose personae from SATC we were channeling in any one particular week.

The cocktails were good (and cheap during happy hour!), the boys behind the bar were cute and very attentive, the chairs were super comfy, it was quiet enough to hear your conversation, but loud enough to absorb the old ourburst or peals of laughter and they made amazing pizza. For a while one of the chefs there was a guy who I had worked with years earlier, and we actually got to have a say in what went on the pizza. My regular was a delightful concoction called a 'Sweet Thang' - and didn't I love the way it twanged off my tongue. It was a mixture of Tia Maria, Bourbon and coke - all done up nicely in a martini glass (it also got stronger and stronger the better we got to know the boys behind the bar!

It really was an odd place to gather - the bar was attached to the fine dining restaurant of a presitgious hotel chain. It was the sort of place you went to for your silver wedding anniversary. Yet for a few short hours on a Friday afternoon, fading into the weekend, it belonged to us ... the motley crew that we often were straight from work.


It became a ritual that we all looked forward to, as the time slowly drained away on a Friday afternoon. We all worked together at a high school oringally, but even when we began going our own ways - we always seemed to be able to get back together at Rah Rahs. First it was me, who went on a three month sojourn to NSW to get my head together, but was straight back into it on my first Friday back in Cairns. Then Lisa went to work at a different highschool and then I went to uni (so it was everyone else's shout for a long time), Lisa went overseas, came back and then I finally moved away permanently.


Friday afternoon at Rah Rahs was the blow off - it was the best way to debrief, decompress and delineate - the week from the weekend. We would sit and sip our cocktails (rather than guzzle because we were always driving) and talk about the men that were or weren't in our lives, about what had shat us off at work that week. It was here on these comfy couches, cradling martini glasses that our love interests all were Christened with new names - there was The Princess, The Spy Who Shagged me, Captain Arsehole and Corporeal Threesome just to name a couple.

Often we would wander up the road to play pool for the free hour that one of the pubs had, other times we'd just go home. For a very long time, it was the warm up to what would be a home bender for Lisa and I, as we drank rum and coke, watched movies, talked about everything under the sun, dabbled in some photography and modelling and during summer, took midnight dips. Later on, it was my only social outting for the week, such was my budget at uni as a mature aged student. It was however always the highlight of my week - especially when our lives diverged.


I miss Friday - the way it was, when we were all just friends - before partners and husbands, kids and complicated responsibilites. When three friends just got together for a drink and a museevery Friday.


What is it in your life that you miss as a result of a huge change in life circumstances?

9 comments:

Panthergirl said...

My life was VERY Seinfeld/Sex and the City when I was in my 20s. I miss the spontaneous drinks out with friends, the times when I'd be in bed for the night (alone!) and a friend would call at midnight to go out for coffee and dessert. We, too, used to make up names for jerks we dated.

It was very uncomplicated and fun (or at least seems that way in retrospect...)

I skipped you at Michele's by accident!

David Edward said...

hi, Black Friday is to the retailers, the day the go " in the black" as in make a profit for the whole year.
before this they were, "in the red" taking a loss.
from michele

Sara said...

Hello, Jodi, Michele sent me to make sure you didn't get missed - but, I see Panthergirl came by too. And, I'm glad I did!

I just miss the uncomplicated times - I always worked in small companies - so, I was never close enough to form those types of friendships that you speak of...

But, I do miss the times when I was able to stop for a coffee and not have to rush home for some reason or other.

Now that I care for my aged mother I miss not being able to just get up and go somewhere in the evening...and the fact that I miss my quilting group meetings more often than I attend them.

Dawn-Enigma Artist said...

Just checking to be sure someone explained Black Friday to you.

Since Thursday was Thanksgiving. A lot of people have Friday off as well...so Stores open at ridiculously
early hours, like 4 am, and advertise lower sale prices than usual.

Therefore crazy people camp out at the store parking lots to be first to get a deal. It was freezing in Dallas and people still camped out. In tents, even.

Oh yeah and the Thursday paper weighs 30 pounds, at least, due to all the sale ads!

And my friends and I still name "our interests" and some of my friends are way to old to be doing that!

here via Michele in a round about way!

Smiler said...

My answer is very general: I miss the innocence of youth. All the life experience I've got under my belt is wonderful fodder for writing, but I miss the excitement and the joy of trying things for the first time, or falling in love or discovering new places and new flavors could provide. I've become too jaded and that's a shame.

The blog I kept prior to this one sounded a lot like episodes of Sex and the City. Only I think I switched from one character to the other depending on the situation.

Thanks for stopping by at my place. It's nice to have you over. My boyfriend moved out this w/e and I'm coping with that and my inability to keep a relationship going, and very grateful I have writing and blogging to keep me busy.

Otherwise all is fine. I just did the Fiction Friday for the first time this week!

Anonymous said...

Today, I am missing myself. It sounds weird but it happens to be true. Sometimes we get lost. It is one of those times.

Sigh! Michele sent me here to muse over it...

rashbre said...

Sounds like the Fridays were great fun. Whilst there may be lore logistics, its good to keep some 'me space' around whatever is going on and to find time for friends to chill with.

I'm just not so sure about your choice of drinks!

And 'cheers' ! Michele sent me!

rashbre

carmilevy said...

You've awoken some very powerful memories of my uni life. I would meet my friends for pizza and beer at a downtown Montreal student gathering place called Gertrude's. We'd meet after a late class that ended close to 11 pm.

When we were done, we'd take the subway home, then count the days till our next gathering.

I miss the warm simplicity of that time of my life. Thank you for reminding me why it mattered so much.

All the best from Michele's tonight.

Anonymous said...

My husband and I used to walk everywhere together. I know this sounds kind of weird maybe, but I never was really a party gal. I've never done the drinks after work thing. I guess it's just not my scene. But I used to do a lot of walking in Wyoming because it was safe, and the scenery made it worth the effort.

When I first moved to Tennessee with Mr. Muse we didn't have a car. For our first year together and our first year married we walked all over town together, rain or shine, it didn't matter. We had some of our most romantic moments... and some of our biggest fights on those walks. Now that we have kids walking is at a minimum. They're getting old enough now, that walking can become a family thing. But I still miss those private walks we used to take hand in hand.