Pick Me Up

When I was finishing off my education I was still a teenager. I’d made it into my twenties, but the mentality was very much still that of a juvenile teenager. I was, if you will, a bit of a prat. During these last few years of irresponsibility, poverty and eternal optimism I met a fellow student with who I built a friendship. Despite him being just as much of a prat as me, the friendship has lasted*. Even though we are now twenty years older and much water has flowed under the bridge, we are still capable of mindless, irresponsible fun. I confess that our antics no longer cause injuries or quite so much damage to property but it is, as they say, the thought that counts.

So this friend of mine came for a visit this weekend. Since I am pretty much living as a student again for the moment, it was easy for us to slip back into the mind set of twenty years ago. The main difference being that we were able to spend a little money this time, since we aren’t really students anymore. So, coffees were drunk in cafés, slices of apple pie and salmon pistolettes were consumed and of course, computer games were purchased. (My purchase of a PSP game is something that is actually going to cause me sufferance, as I have been challenged to a dual by a thirteen year old who is more than likely going to whoop my ass at it.)

One of the highlights of the weekend, for my visitor at least, was the realisation that a certain lamp that he has seen many times in one of his favourite restaurants, is for sale in shops. This excited him quite a lot.

We ate together in Amsterdam on Saturday night and both did our usual people watching. This generally involves being pretty childish and making comments about anyone that comes into view, but it was the diners that got my attention this time. In an Italian restaurant in the middle on Amsterdam on Valentines night more than half the diners were same sex couples. What I couldn’t work out was, if they were friends that couldn’t get dates or gay/lesbian couples. Obviously in our case, it was a pair of sad single muppets but the rest could have been either. The waiter clouded the issue by giving all the ladies roses, but not one to a man. I’m sure that there were gay couples in the restaurant somewhere, but I’m not as good at spotting them as my friend is, since he bats for their team too.

But it was an excellent weekend and only spoiled by the fact that it was so closely followed by a Monday. Somebody should do something about that.

*It had a gap of about 4 years when he decided that he didn’t want to talk to me anymore . The silence ended one day when he rang me up to ask me how to install Skype. No, I don’t understand either.