Niche

The last two weeks of March = dead

April = ghost town

May = some hope, still no gym though

First half of June = gym allowed during staffed hours, bars open if you want to sit at a table until 12am/1am closing

Work in general = onerous / shifty

June 20 - watched the footy at Toby’s with J&C in Lesmurdie, went back to J&C’s, drove out to Jolimont and then Uber to Leederville to see if Phase 3 COVID was worth pursuing. Sat down for one hour in Bill’s Bar in Leederville until it closed. Not very exciting. Expecting COVID Phase 3 to last until late August.

Sometime in the next week Perth entered Phase 4. This was unexpected.

July 4 - woke up feeling tired and a little hungover after copping a beat down (unwarranted) from my boss the night before at our in-house EOFY lunch. Officially on leave for the next 6 business days. Feeling so depressed.

I have a Saturday afternoon nap and wake up to missed msg and phone call from Kiel... he wants to go to Leederville, no sitting, can officially stand. I was depressed and uncommital, decided to go to the gym and take my phone with me just in case. Receive 20 messages from Kiel in total, get back from gym and decide that 20 messages is enough to convince me to go out. I drive and make it to Leederville around 2250, I line up for over an hour.

Stand in line by myself for at least 50 minutes, eventually I start talking to the guy next to me who was from Whitfords (now lives in Vic Park), he is also by himself and meeting a friend inside. I liked this guy, he was tall and worked as an occupational therapist in Fremantle Hospital and like me, he wasn’t quite sure where he was heading in life. He has never been to Niche before and he was now sober. After an hour, we both get to the front of the line, he doesn’t realise that you must pay $10 in cash to enter - non negotiable! He has no cash so I pay for him. 

We both get in. He insists on buying me a drink to repay the debt and I oblige. He buys a vodka and a G&T so I take the vodka. We part ways and head over to our respective friends. I finally get to see Jas & Kiel. I tell Jas that I copped a beat down from work the night before; he tells me that I should have walked off, I say “Yeah I should have”, I feel a lot better now. Niche was seriously busy and the music was good like always. I have a few drinks, talk to Jas & Kiel, we spend the remainder of the night with a group of other people, possibly KC will find a new partner? I say goodbye after about 2am to everyone, walk outside to my car and drive home. Was a good night and was so glad that I went.

July 18 - I didn’t want to go out but Kiel messages me around 2pm saying that he wants to go to Niche tonight to celebrate his Birthday on the 20th. The only condition is that I must be there by 930pm. I didn’t want to go out but I agree that it is important to celebrate the birthday so I oblige. I go to the gym early and catch an Uber into Leederville by 920pm, I told Kiel that he must not go in before letting me know as I didn’t want to line up solo. This didn’t happen, J&C arrive and make it into Niche at 935 after waiting 5 minutes. I’m annoyed and then I have to walk up the road to the atm to get cash for the door entry. I make it to the back of the line by 2145... it was now busy.

This was seriously hectic. The line was on the other side this week and it was not moving. The VIP line flowed much quicker but because of the “one in, one out” policy, it took until after 2300 before I made it in.

Held off drinking for a bit but eventually it was time to buy cocktails to celebrate KC’s birthday. A busy line at the bar and I ordered a vodka martini, an espresso martini and a mint, vodka cocktail (for Kiel)... the poor bartender. He obliged and after 5 - 10 mins of preparation our cocktails were ready. I was so thankful and tipped the bartender $10 (I always tip for cocktails because I have seen social media posts from a friend who is a bartender, saying bartender work can be hectic and a tip for a cocktail on a busy night will keep them from getting angry). 

Started to feel a little looser and eventually we head down next to the dance floor. Definitely a lot of nice, well dressed women around, a few approach etc, some enquire. Eventually one comes over and wants to dance and like usual, J&C direct the attention towards me. I didn’t want to dance but try not to be difficult. This woman is attractive. A song comes on that I like and I give in and start to relax and dance. Just for the record, I practice dancing a lot when I am at home, especially because I live by myself and have no one to really talk to. I decided to start learning around mid 2013 after going into Politix in the city after work at Mantra on Friday nights, one of the young salesman (he had been smoking weed) would be dancing. I would talk to him, he said that he had started learning because he wanted to get his confidence up but then he really started to like it. I decided that I liked music a lot and would try and learn myself. So I started. 

Her friend had left earlier in the night but she had opted to stay. I saw her at the bar ordering four vodka & sodas and when I realised they were for us, I was shocked. Anyway, I started dancing and we started dancing together. We danced together for literally 2 hours until closing. I started to like her but I wasn’t sure what her intentions were and I know I am very much not good at following up when I do get a number. I decided I would just wait and see how things would pan out. Niche was closing and we were all leaving, I motioned for her to come with us, she was behind and I wasn’t sure what she was doing. When we were waiting in the kebab shop around the corner she showed up, she was now wearing a jacket.

Five guys, one woman, after eating we all went our separate ways (the two other guys were our African friends). I later found out that she was a lawyer which was surprising because she was shifty like me.

I definitely regretted not getting her number, a classic mistake yet a tough one indeed. I am crafty though so hope is not lost. KC did get her friend’s number earlier in the night also, so her friends could make sure that she got home safely.

July 25 - I had been in Moora during the week and had been thinking (too much) about that encounter the week before. Kiel messages me, I didn’t want to go out but decided yes because Vesper was going to be there and also because I wanted to talk to Kiel & Jas about the weekend before. I received the message at 8pm so this was a late call up. Went to the gym, drove into Leederville around 1130. Lined up as it started to rain and didn’t make it in until 0040 which is probably my latest start to a night out ever! It’s safe to say that whilst most people were drunk / tipsy I was sober.

It seemed like it wasn’t as vibrant or busy as the previous two nights and maybe that was just because of the weather or maybe it was just me. Maybe another love interest for KC as I spent most of the night talking to Jas & Vesper. One of new friends was climbing up and dancing next to DJ table which was precarious but endearing also - out of control!!

Was a nice night but eventually I left at 230 as I couldn’t really drink. Was good to see everyone, walked to my car near the 24/7 IGA car park in Leederville and headed home. Jas told me that they went and got food and left soon after. Was a good night anyway.

Went out the next Saturday again. Went to Prince Lane in the city - ok but different crowd. Massive lines everywhere else in city / Northbridge so ended in Leederville. Leederville was busy again but there was this guy, like my height, who tried to steal a drink from Jas at the bar and we almost got into a fight with him. This guy almost got into a fight with the other Lesmurdie crew and even another group of guys. Eventually he gets kicked out, leaving a lot of angry people who wanted to fight him. This was still a good night but I this would be my last night out for a while as I low on energy and needed a break.

Saturday 14/03/20 - Tigerlils & Niche

I had been going out a fair bit this year with Jas & Kiel, usually between 4pm - 440pm on a Saturday I would receive a text from Kiel. This Saturday was no different and I really just wanted to sleep. It took me a while to commit (approx 730pm I think) but I thought that I might not even sleep that well if I stay home, so I might as well go out anyway. I got ready and walked to the train station at around 910pm.

I got to the train station but it was raining and I did not plan for this. Daglish train station was dead quiet like always and I was doing my best to keep my phone and wallet protected from the rain. Caught the train, got off at City West and had to move fast to find some cover from the rain! West Perth / Harold Boas Gardens we’re dead quiet and I ran into our office building to dry off. It was way too wet and I was questioning my decision to go out in the first place! I had committed so thought “so be it” and ordered an Uber to the city.

The city was quiet and it was March and raining pretty steadily. I finally made it to Tigerlil’s and saw J & C. I was so wet.

The vibe at Tigerlil’s was ok and it was not too busy but busy enough that the back section was open. It kind of felt like May or June because of the weather and the general vibe of the crowd and the city feeling so quiet. I would have honestly been happy to stay there for the rest of the night but Kiel had other plans. There was a Bruce Lee movie on one of the TVs too (Enter The Dragon) so I was feeling content. 

The consensus was that Marketgrounds would be too hectic which meant that we could only really go to Niche in Leederville. We left Tigerlil’s at 1130pm, jumped into a taxi asap as it was still raining and headed to Niche. 

We arrived at Niche, there was no line, we went in, the music was good but it was dead!!! A stark contrast to a few weeks earlier where it was so lively but you could feel that the COVID 19 virus was starting to impact many of the institutions which form a part of our lives... a sign of things to come.

I was a little tipsy at this stage so I was only drinking water. Jas tricked me again and bought me more vodka, bringing my total to six for the night. This was past my limit so I decided that I wouldn’t stay for too much longer. I said goodbye and then I headed outside to make my way home. I wasn’t sure how far I would walk but I crossed the freeway and headed down Cambridge Street. These walks on Saturday nights I like because they are so quiet and I can think clearly. I made it to Subiaco and decided to keep walking, the rain had stopped so it was just overcast. I finally made it home after about 50 minutes. During my walk home I had been thinking about making a comeback to league football, the irony being that two days later COVID 19 would bring a premature end to this dream and football in general. So strange. A strange but decent night nonetheless.

Was good to go out. SD

31/12/19 - New Year’s Eve

It was a Monday night, the night before the big day, I was trying to plan out logistics for the subsequent night which I expected to be a moderate outing. Trav messaged me and asked if I wanted to go to Preston Beach in the morning, I did but I didn’t really want to get up by 8am but I said yes anyway. I watched a few Survivor videos on YouTube and then went to bed.

Tuesday morning - the last YouTube vid I watched for 2019

Woke up the following morning (Tuesday the 31st), got ready and then headed south with Trav and his work friend (Carmiel). The drive was fair and eta at Preston Beach must have been around 12pm. Trekked the Ford Ranger through precarious sand tracks and then set up camp. About ten other cars on the beach but it was pretty good. I still wasn’t quite sure how the rest of the day would pan out but I resigned myself to whatever would happen, so be it.

The next couple of hours we just mucked around, ate food and I pondered that I felt pretty isolated being so far away from Perth and any action on what I thought was the final day of the decade (I still don’t know if this is correct or not 😂). I was low on energy and needed as much food as I could get. Unexpectedly, two other comrades of Trav rocked up. By this stage there were only a few cars left on the beach. We talked for quite a while and I was still unsure if I would make it out later on. Carmiel was going to Marketgrounds too, he had a ticket but it was still reassuring for me.

We talked for a little longer and you could tell it was afternoon by now, as the sun was a little lower and the wind was stronger. We went in for a swim, it was so warm and at this stage it was time to leave as it was nearing 1630. We made it off the beach without getting bogged and then headed north again. 

I was pretty hungry at this stage and was trying to determine how much time I would have until I had to head to the city to meet up with J&C and Jimmy etc. I wanted to go to the gym to so I was really cutting it fine. Made it back to Coogee just before 1800 and then I had to eat as much food as I could, organise my clothes and pay my CPA membership. Hadn’t had much food but locked up the house and headed north to Subi at around 1840.

I was pushing time pretty hard but wanted to go to the gym because I hadn’t been since Christmas (I had only been running and hadn’t really done any weights). The drive up there felt pretty weird, prob because I was so unorganised and running out of time. I spoke to KC and he said Vesper couldn’t make it so we had an extra ticket. It sounded like it was probably going to be a quiet night now and I was like “Ok whatever, no probs”. Finally arrived at the gym and it was fairly quiet.

The last night of the year and I was struggling to get much done at the gym, was low on energy but did some barbell stuff and watched the end of the Big Bash. The Strikers lost and broke their NYE tradition and I thought this may be symbolic of the rest of my night: anticlimactic. Made it back to my unit, got ready as fast as I could and then trained it into West Perth. 

West Perth looking suspect

Finally made it into Tigerlils and it must have been around 2140. TL was ok / decent but only the front part was open, was good to see Jimmy (gf was there too). The five of us had a few drinks and then headed elsewhere. 

Murray St didn’t seem that busy, The Aviary we couldn’t get into, so headed to Market Grounds. Market Grounds was definitely lively and there was a line to get in. I had a ticket now but it looked like I could have paid and still made it in. We lined up and got in, was questioned by bouncer but made it in anyway. Was getting close to 11pm at this stage and the atmosphere was far livelier than anywhere else we had been during the night. We stayed on the outskirts because the dance floor was hectic and started drinking. There must have been a few hundred people there.

Kept drinking etc and doing missions upstairs to get drinks and head back down. One of the few nights of the year where I thought if I drink more than five drinks tonight, not great but still ok. Jimmy and Anna sat down and the three of us stood there and decided to go upstairs to grab another drink as it was 1155 and nearly midnight. Bought our drinks and then quickly headed back downstairs. There was a lot of anxiety in the air as it was getting closer and closer to midnight so I was looking forward to getting this over and done with.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” Thank god! Things loosened up and I felt relieved that all of the anticipation had finally passed. So relieved that it was time to go grab another drink.

After my next drink, KC bought three vodka sodas, Jimmy and Anna left (Anna was drunk) and all three drinks ended up with me. JC said “drink quick otherwise you’ll get kicked out for having too many drinks”, I knew this was dangerous but I didn’t really want to waste the drinks. I drank two and a half of the three and realised that I had almost reached my limit. It was time for water.

The whole place was busy and there were many attractive women. I stood there smashing down water as hard as I could. When Jas & Kiel were at the bar a lady approached me, she was slightly older than me and I could see where this was going. I remembered Jas’ advice that I needed to loosen up and not be so uptight. She leans in for a kiss so in my head I’m like “Ok, just let it go. No need to over think this”. I kind of liked her anyway. 

Anyway, she was drunk and needed to drink more water... she didn’t though. We talked for a while, I tried to keep her from falling over, tried to get her to hydrate. Time passes, soon it was 2am and closing time, it was starting to empty out. We left end headed into Northbridge, the lady soon falls over. This was when we had to depart ways (her friends took her home, I didn’t leave her on the side of the path, don’t worry).

I woke up the following morning in my unit, pretty fatigued and slightly hungover. This certainly would not be my last visit to Marketgrounds over the next few months.

SD