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.
