Friday 05/11/21 - West Perth, MYER & Subi

Wake up 0615, am tired but not too tired. Get ready for work, no tie. 8am leave my unit and walk to Jolimont bus stop on Hay St. The 28 bus comes about 0809 and slowly heads east through Subi until it crosses over into West Perth. I get off the bus at Harold Boas Gardens and walk down the hill to AFG building level 2 - my work. I make it to my desk in the corner which looks out to Watertown (if I face the other way). Time = 830.

Sometime during the next 7.5 hours I go downstairs to lunch and later realise that I am so tired that I must only do straight forward work and must not send any complicated emails. I do well. Time now = 4pm. 

4pm - 430pm: do quick job review with Sam, tidy up some loose ends and then go to the lunchroom to clean drink bottle and to see if Michael’s leaving feast has arrived. Leaving feast is nowhere to be seen but people  have started congregating for drinks. This is where my work day ends.

435pm

I spend the next 2 hrs drinking and socialising for Michael’s leaving drinks and the turnout is pretty good, like 12 + people. In this situation it can always be a little sombre as someone is leaving and you realise that nothing is really ever permanent... (this is a very common feeling at Pascoes 🤣). Anyway, drinks drop from about 12/13 people to four and at this point it must be about 640pm. The sun is starting to fade too and I feel like I really need to get out of the empty office so I don’t feel lonely. Michael stays, I say goodbye and then go to the bathroom downstairs to plan my next move.

7pm - 730pm

I spend the next half hour at several different locations in the building and basement, deciding if I should go home or go to the city to buy a tee-shirt. I do some research on my phone one last time and say “f*ck it, just do it!” I walk to the Yellow CAT stop at Watertown and catch the CAT into the city.

730pm - 750pm

I get off at the Perth station on Wellington St, a bit of commotion like always on a Friday night, cross the road, climb the stairs and head through MYER to the bottom floor - a journey I’ve done many times before 😂. I grab the tee shirt that I want and take it to the change rooms. I don’t have much time so I decide that it will fit without even trying it on, walk out of the change room to the counter and buy it - very quick. I cross the bridge over Wellington St, into the Perth Train Station, walk down to the platform, wait like 2 minutes and catch the 8pm train home to Daglish. I walk home.

820pm - 1110pm

Make it home, eat food, play on my phone and watch videos on Instagram, cook fried rice and do a week’s worth of dishes. At this point I realise that I’m like an hour behind schedule which is common for me but this happens a lot on Fridays when I’m so tired.

1120pm

I drive to Goodlife in Subiaco on Hay St, park my car and walk up to the entrance but it is not open, sign says “Closed until 12am for maintenance” - damnit, I talk to security guard and tell him I come back later. I walk back to my car and I try to decide if I go to gym on St George’s Terrace or Floreat instead, I decide I’m too tired and wait out the next 40 minutes in my car on Hay Street and try to sleep. It is 0005 now, I walk to the entrance, the lights are still not on. I try my luck... the door opens. As I walk in the lights start turning on and soon the music starts playing... the enormous gym in the middle of Subiaco (a focal point), with 20 tv’s, lots of equipment and Goodlife music tv is all mine. 

2am

I am so tired but still stay there until about 2am - everything takes so much longer when you’re tired. Finish my workout on the treadmill and then drive around the corner to Wembley IGA. I buy some bananas, frozen mangoes and ice creams. I normally talk to the staff there but I am too tired so just leave.

215am

Drive south through Jolimont, very slowly at like 20 km’s per hour, stop to have a look at an owl, keep driving.

220am

Make it home, eat some food... play on my phone.

3am

Go to sleep on the couch. Classic Friday.

Oct 09/10/21 - Claremont Showgrounds & Marketgrounds

I woke up early for a Saturday to make sure I was on time for my first COVID vaccination. Arrive at the Showgrounds by 10am, not knowing what to expect, park my car nearby and head in with the rest of the crowd. It is pretty busy and am ushered into one of the undercover pavilions and sit at the back of maybe 20 rows of chairs. Must be a few hundred people sitting down and some more on the other side who have already received their vax. I am tired but kind of enjoying being here as I don’t get out in public that much outside of work, gym, shops etc and Saturday nights... it is kind of nice. I keep moving forward through the rows of chairs and eventually get vaccinated. The whole ordeal takes maybe an hour and I am home by 1130.

The next few hours I eat and sleep and don’t wake up until 1630 or so, I am kind of f*cked. Jas msgs me to see if I am keen to go out, the plan was to meet at Reveley to celebrate JC’s Bday and I am expecting a big crew but turns out Kiel has pulled out so it’s only going to be Jas & Vesper. I’m like “Damn, where is everyone?!?” Such is the life of adulthood and when responsibilities kick in... anyway, I am def going to support my friend. It is about 6pm and I drive to work to use the bathroom (it is en route to the gym 🤣) and then quickly go to the gym to do some weights. I make it home just before 8pm, get ready and head to the train station about 9 o clock - good by my standards. I make it to Marketgrounds by 930.

Marketgrounds

I had totally forgotten about this but it was the night of Oktoberfest and the city was seriously hectic! I am having to line up outside by myself and there are a lot people like me, either in the line or standing around deciding if the line is worth it. Like people from 18 - 60, everyone! Some people find the line tough, especially if they’re not drunk or with friends, my line experience is strong and I am good solo so I wait the 30 mins and make it in, 1010pm.

JC and Vesper are sitting down in one of the booths near the entrance, we all talk and start drinking, a lot of young and drunk people in tonight. We see my rival or anti-thesis, “Anti Dutch” - the skinny guy with spiked blonde hair who Jas & Kiel recognise from Mint 5 - 10 years ago, and this time he has a new male partner, slightly younger than his usual accomplice... I’m sure it won’t be long until Anti-Dutch gets kicked out again for being too theatrical or a similar misunderstanding, always such drama 😂. Anyway the night goes on and we keep drinking upstairs and eventually on the dance floor.

We keep drinking, Vesp is being social and maybe has found someone he likes, a fiery blonde haired lady. The crowd is a little hectic, many drunk young people, some getting kicked out, and wide cross section of other people. I am struggling a bit from my COVID injection earlier on, I keep drinking (by my standards anyway), it is definitely a classic first Saturday of October kind of vibe, where people are getting loose like there’s a full moon, two girls are kissing hard, like right in front of us on the dance floor and everyone is just looking at them and thinking “what the f*ck is going on?!”.

JC confident as always, MB msging Vesper the whole night, eventually after 1am MB rocks up, also looking extremely confident as always. I am there until just before closing, we are outside in the middle of the sitting area. I say goodbye to MB, JC by using fight moves, hug Vesper and then head past the security guards at the entrance, head up Wellington St towards West Perth and walk home. This will be my last city Saturday mission for nearly 3 months. 

Sept 11/09/21 - NB Brewery, Universal Bar & Niche

Another late post 🤣🤣🤣, I digress.

This was a good night and perhaps a little more dynamic than the usual. I will try and write this one quick.

Made it out to NB and to Northbridge Brewery just after. Pretty busy out there. Went inside NBB and looked for JC and eventually saw and crept up behind and prepared to kick JC (not hard obviously). This was a big crew already eight others not including me. Vesper’s close friends who JC and I are also friends with. Most of them had been drinking at the brewery since 2pm!!! Safe to say we had to leave after AJ was showing signs of inebriation and security become forceful - not much we could do here. Headed down the shifty part of Northbridge, down James St towards Brass Monkey - so shifty. 

Fast forward to Universal Bar.

An older crowd as expected but this was not a bad thing. Busy too. The peripheral of my vision caught a glimpse of an old, familiar friend... one that I had not seen for a long time... (the English Premier League). Maybe it was because Ronaldo was back at Man Utd after a decade away and he had just scored like he hasn’t lost anything at all but this was the point I started tweeting and taking Snapchats of random things like the water logged bathroom floor. I kept drinking, we waited, I discussed with Jas if we were going to stay here, I put small earplugs in to save energy because the music is so loud and I don’t want to wake up with ringing ears. I went to the bar to grab another drink and a harmless man probably in his fifties asked how my night was going and I said “yeah not bad, yours?” He said “good, I’ve got a root lined up”, I didn’t know what to say so said “that’s a good start”, he looked a little confused, I ordered my drink and walked off.

We were at the point now where the 2pm crew was starting to fatigue... Jas, Vesper, myself and MB were getting ready to make a move and go to Niche. We are on the middle of the dance floor with some others, the man before is among us and I’m trying to work out which woman (or man) he was referring to... I can’t work out which one but we head outside quickly after. It is cool outside and lively, we walk past our 2019 friend Palace Arcade - familiar territory, especially because it’s cold... AJ is clearly drunk and needs to get home before he gets cleaned up by a car. This is where everyone splits and the usual three (JC, me, LV) plus MB jump into a cab and head to Leederville... much more familiar than Universal Bar. It is about 1215am now.

We’re in the line but it’s not busy so we’re in soon. My first time back since they changed the decor and it looks good. New bar staff though? The next two hours I drink a little, tweet Nick and think about taking mirror selfies in the bathroom because I’m so in love with life... I’m def slightly drunk. I remember there was like a 40 year old woman (she looked nice, could have passed for 30’s) was talking to us but then she went off with some other guy. Later on she got angry at MB, looked like it was getting heated. She walks away, a few minutes pass, I can see MB is processing all of this in his head and then he rapidly walks over to her at the bar to clear this misunderstanding... I’m impressed. Fervently apologising to clear the air. At this point it’s about 210 and I realise that I’m not going to make the 219 train home, so I end up saying goodbye and making the journey back home on foot. This is another arduous walk home but one that I don’t mind. 

Aug 14/08/21 - Marketgrounds

(This is a late post, like 11 weeks late 🤣).

Week:

Monday - work then go Optus Stadium to watch the Eagles with Ben

Tuesday - usual

Wednesday - usual

Thursday - usual

Friday - usual 

Saturday - busy, this is where I begin

Saturday, am f**ked, usual. Get up, get dressed and go to Subi oval to kick the footy with Goat, possibly Trav. Meet up with reliable G-unit at Subi oval which is now hood territory. From Forrie and WG to Subi, Wembley & Jolimont - how things have changed. Was good to kick the footy again, Trav shows up too. Must be like 1pm by now and as we are kicking a guy who looks like Giumelli shows up. It is Giumelli? (Trav must have msgd him?). This is a good four-way crew. Eventually it’s getting to after 2pm and I have to go to meet with my parents to look at tv’s. 

The next three hours I’m out in Osborne Park looking at tv’s with mum and dad. We get some nice new ones and I get a bigger one for my unit as an early Christmas present. It’s like 530pm now and I’m seriously tired and trying to get some sleep so I have enough energy to go out tonight but I know I seriously have no chance of sleeping when I’m this tense! I may have gone to the gym and to get some food at this stage but I’m not entirely sure (I am 11 weeks late remember). Eventually I decide that I will go out as I half promised to Jas earlier in the week that I would.

I get dressed and head out, it’s like 840 at this point. I make it to the line at Marketgrounds and I’m seriously tired which means I don’t have much confidence. The line has moved to the other side and I haven’t been out for like three months so I’m pondering if I actually want to be here. Eventually make it in. 

Jas and Vesper are there, very happy to see them, have not seen them for three months! We talk for a while and sit down, sounds like they have gone out a few times whilst I’ve been hibernating at home. Jas has bought a house too - big news! They ask me what I’ve been doing and I obviously say “surviving” because this is true 😂. Anyway we keep drinking, go upstairs where there’s more room and easy bathroom access and eventually go downstairs to the dance floor. 

The music is good, we’re on the dance floor and like always there are a lot of nicely dressed women (guys too), always makes me feel good when I go out and see other people my age (or younger or older), looking their rest and happy to be out. Some time passes, Vesp and Jas have drunk more than me, they talk to a few people, we have a few more drinks and all having a good time.

It’s past midnight now and I literally have very little energy left, I know I gotta go soon. Two nice ladies seem interested, I’m like I’ve got no energy I can’t talk, I go to the bar to buy three more drinks, I spill one of them on a lady walking past and have to clean it off her. I get back to the crew and one of the two women interested in me but Vesper & I cannot work out which one it is. We talk for a bit and eventually they head out. It gets to about 1am now and my energy levels are too low so I say goodbye to Jas and LV and head onto Wellington St to start walking home. It’s pretty cold and I walk up Wellington St from Perth to West Perth and then cross into Subi onto Roberts Rd. It is so quiet and I am walking past all these nice, old houses and thinking that I would like to buy one and just live there by myself (if I’m still single) because it would be so quiet and I think I like old places that have nice trees / plants.

As I walk past Subi Oval lost in reverie I check my phone, three missed calls from LV?? I call back. He at Mint with Jas and the two women from before are there! I speak to them on the phone and the shorter, louder lady tells me to come to Mint!! I too tired so I cannot go but I say to LV “If they interested, they can have my number”. I keep walking home through Subi and make the turn up Hay St. I check my phone and there’s msg from a new number... am excited... could this be Mint / MG women?? It is the shorter lady who I spoke to on the phone, I msg back and keep walking home. Keep msging once I make it onto the couch to sleep. First time I’ve messaged a real world woman for quite a while. This is good and such a forgotten feeling 😂😂😂. I feel alive!

I fall asleep.

15th of May 2021 - Niche

Haven’t been out for two months, mainly just stay at home on the weekend and hide from world. JC messages me on Wednesday night, giving me plenty of notice for Saturday night mission to Holey Moley, bowling and maybe go out after. Saturday night arrives and I wait to see if this goes ahead, JC sends me the msg at 18:55, I decide ok, I can’t make Holey Moley but maybe will meet up after, play by ear. Have to organise food, perhaps go to gym and then I have to decide if I go.

Some indecision of course, eventually I summon the strength for the cold shower, get ready and head to train station. Make it to train station for 1015pm train to Perth CBD, get off at CBD and walk through Yagan Square opposite Marketgrounds. JC & Vesper are the only two out, they are at Prince Lane, I wait, Marketgrounds busy. Eventually JC and Vesper make it, the line for Marketgrounds is big, perhaps too big! Make quick decision and decide to go to Niche. Main topic of conversation in taxi is Vesper’s big crypto currency windfall, I am interested in this. Make it to Niche, no real line, not that busy in relative terms. Get our ID checked off and head inside.

Decent crowd so we start drinking. Niche music good as always, many nicely groomed men and women. Not too busy, why so quiet? Maybe weather too cool, not right time of the year. We all drink and dance, eventually I get to the danger zone and hit 8 drinks 😳 I know I’m in trouble. I there until about 220am, drink some water, am tired from gym and drinking too but I feel drunk and happy. I say goodbye to Jas and Vesp, say goodbye to Big Rob too, I walk out of Niche, it’s a little cold but not freezing. I walk from Leederville to West Leederville, over the FWY overpass, I love this part of the walk. So quiet.

The walk is nice, a little cold but I am fatiguing hard. Go down Cambridge St and cut back to Subiaco. The roads are dead quiet and I am feeling like this walk is becoming a pretty tough WOD. Finally make it to the drink fountain near the 92.9 office in Subiaco. This drink fountain is surrounded by a lot of nice 2-3 story apartment / townhouse buildings so maybe someone is still awake and seeing this vagrant (me), nicely groomed and perhaps a little drunk, drinking water at 3:15 in the morning, like he hasn’t drank water for 10 hours. One or two cars drive by and I keep pushing myself up Hay St and finally make it home - one of my toughest walks in a long time. It is so cold inside so I cover my whole body with blankets on the couch and play on my phone until my hands are frozen. I fall asleep. 

Same as Always but Always Different

I am currently at home at 11:18PM on a Saturday night. I just spent like an hour sitting in my car outside of the gym on Hay St because I couldn’t decide if I was too tired to to the gym or not. Also with this blog I thought “I am feeling tired so should I just sleep?” That’s the trouble with weekends: you only have so much time to do things and often you are tired so you need to recover at some point. Anyway, I’m going to write this blog because I know I will like reading back on it later in the year.

Back to New Year’s Eve. 

New Year’s Eve was at the same venue as last year so I had high hopes. This year I was also heading up to Market Grounds from a fairly empty Coogee house but this time I was actually ahead of schedule and had time to spare - perhaps this was my downfall. Stu gave me a lift to Murdoch Train Station so I could catch the train up to the city to meet Jas at like 830. This happened and we went to Belgium Beer Cafe for a few pre drinks. Perhaps an interesting moment was when we had tried to get into Emerson (old Carnegies) but the bouncer denied us because there supposedly was an event on. A solo middle aged man who was there also trying to gain entry, he said to us after we agreed with the bouncer that we should just grab a drink at the Belgian Beer Cafe across the road, the solo man said “(laughing) I’ll join you guys over there”, we laughed back and said “No worries”. Jas & I then entered the pub and lined up for our first drink and not more than 2 minutes later we noticed the solo man was standing behind us. Jas and I grabbed our drinks and walked over to a vacant table nearby; the man stood just behind us with his beer at first and then slowly moved to the vacant table only 3 metres from us, at this point Jas and I caught on that he was looking for someone to drink with. He then moved to another table a few meters away from us on our other side and now I could sense things were getting desperate for him and a few minutes after this he put down his 3/4 full pint on the table and walked right out... Jas looked at me and I was like “Oh man, he was wanting to join us, wasn’t he?” It’s a story that is very vivid and that barely touched beer that he left behind was hard for me to accept. Anyway Jas and I soon left and headed to Market Grounds and we were not sure if Kiel (had no idea if he was going to come) or Vesper would be meeting us there.

Market Grounds was busy but it didn’t appear to be as busy as it was last year and this perhaps was due to COVID restrictions from 6 months earlier. I didn’t feel as good as I did the year before and perhaps that was because I hadn’t gone to the gym as much and some of my clothes / toiletries were still in my unit in Jolimont, which I hadn’t been to since Christmas eve - I had left in a real hurry on 24/12 when I awoke from a nap and realised that I had to be in Coogee for our Christmas eve dinner. Perhaps that was on my mind and also arriving early means that there would be more time for me to drink which is not necessarily a preference of mine.

As the night progressed, KC and LV showed up and I was starting get drinking fatigue and stomach discomfort. Midnight hit and the crew was having a good time, I remember there were these two loose units which LV befriended and they bought us a few drinks from a wad of cash that they were holding. By this I was fatiguing so I left everyone around 1am and headed to the City West train station.

I arrived in Freo after the 25 or so minute train journey and noticed all of the tents at the park directly across the road, there was some noise etc and I later found out that this was the “Tent City” which kept appearing in the paper. I made my way down towards Notre Dame uni quickly you get away from this stuff (wasn’t in the mood to fight or confront), walked past the backpackers and soon made it. It was actually still lively here too. I took my shoes off and started walking bare feet.

I started my journey from Freo station maybe by 215, made it to the boat harbour about 15 minutes later and kept heading south to South Beach - this must have taken at least 40 minutes. South Beach was quiet but definitely a lot of backpackers and others still on the grass and in the car park. I walked past them and headed onto the cycle track. My feet needed some respite so once I got to the dog beach I headed onto the sand.

This was definitely peaceful and it was 330am by this time and I just wanted to get home. The shiftiest part of this was when I was walking along the beach past the power plant, there is a narrow walkway and there just so happened to be another person walking in the opposite direction. I assume perhaps that maybe a fisherman but I do not know. Out of all of the night time walks where I’ve had to cross paths with someone, this was probably one of the most dubious. At least not shifty like the time where I crossed paths with a cross dresser in Harold Boas Gardens at 130 in the morning 😳. Anyway I eventually made it home by 4am.

The next few days I just recovered and played Link’s Awakening on my Switch. 

Nearly two weeks passed and then I was time to go back to work.

Work

First day back I got asked if I wanted to take over some of the jobs that one of the other accountants had been working on before she left a few days earlier. Because of this, Jan & Feb became pretty hectic for me and I did not do much else, played golf twice and that was probably it.

Sat 27/02/21 - Market Grounds & Mint

Didn’t realise anyone was going to the city, thought everyone was just going to Carousel. Was trying to work out how I could get to Carousel and drink and how practical my options were. Went to the gym and made it back home and I had gone too hard on the treadmill and was too tired! Room me until

close to 11 before I built up the motivation to go out. Walked to the train station and made it until the city by 1130. 

JC, KC, Vesper and Derek had made their way to Market Grounds and I lined up solo and met them there. Was the last Saturday night of summer and it was decent at MG, eventually though we were directed towards Mint even though JC, myself and Vesper were happy at Market Grounds. The group started to get split up at this stage so things started to get messy. Eventually we got split between Mint, Niche and Market Grounds and once I walked out of Mint I decided I would just go home. I walked home bare feet from West Perth and got home just 3am. Derek and KC encouraged me to eat more food and I think they are right. Was a good night, to see friends anyway.

Sat 13/03/21 - Market Grounds

A night where I was actually ready by 930 and made it into the city before 10. I waited around King Square in the cold wind for at least half an hour, JC, Vesp, AJ and another of their friends (I think I have this man once before at YaYa’s) were at Prince Lane and heading to MG. Was getting so cold waiting and checking Messenger GPS but eventually jumped into MG line with these guys.

Was busy again at Market Grounds and we went on dance floor and started drinking. I knew this was going to happen and because of rounds and because AJ has bartending experience we ended up with way too many drinks. Round sometimes = 5 drinks plus 5 shots and there’s only so much non-vodka alcohol that I will drink. I gave my debit card to AJ to pay for a round but it came to over $100... this made me despondent and I knew it would take me about two months to get over. 

Kirk and a friend of his showed at like 130 and by this stage I had already had like 8 drinks. It was a good vibe but I left just before 2 (Market Grounds closes at 2 anyway), it was getting to the point where I was trying to work out where I could offload drinks. I said goodbye to everyone and left and just made it to the City West station for the 2:17AM last train to Freo. Made it home and went straight to bed.

Definitely a different start to last year.

SD

2020

Plan was to go hard and write (and edit) multiple blogs over Xmas / NYE break, have failed 🙏🏼. Think I might start posting more frequently for 2021 aka 2015 style.

Wrap up of Aug - Dec 2020:

- Go to Moora a few times for overnight work missions.

- Go to footy reunion and cousin’s Bday, two Saturday nights in cold August. Drink both.

- September = two visits to Mint Nightclub. Second visit = solo because Jas & Kiel leave without effective communication to me. I have 3 - 4 vodkas whilst determining their location before I leave Mint. Strange being in Nightclub by yourself but not the first time for me.

- Big highlight = MTV Catfish and late Friday night (930pm - 1220am) gym sessions. Almost no one there so can do Xfit workouts and do soccer tricks with medicine balls.

- Don’t go out much during Oct - Dec. Maybe Marketgrounds and Niche a couple of times. Walk home all of these nights. Walks always so nice. Have decent night out in Dec where go with 6 man crew to Marketgrounds and then Niche, it rained when I walked home. Was nice walk.

- NYE at Marketgrounds = decent but I started drinking too early.