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| 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.
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| 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
