Lazy Saturday

 I had a very lazy Saturday, given that it was a Saturday, a much-needed day of resting and laundry after a crazy week. I spent some of the evening using up the food in the fridge – it had been there since about the 6^th of the month, when I was able to last get to the supermarket in Frankton. At about 8pm or so I got ready and headed down into town hoping to meet up with Bart for his last night in town. I had actually grown quite fond of him, both as a person and spending time with him.

I ran into Bart on the sidewalk out in front of Buffalo Club – they were possibly heading for Harry's or the hostel itself, though they had previously been at World Bar. I joined up with Bart and his friends Stu and Andrew who are brothers, and we went to Altitude. Although I wouldn't be caught dead lost in the messiness that's reputed to Altitude, it was relatively empty and mild and we got a few games of pool and a few drinks before the Big Night Out came through and starting taking all the pool tables and beginning the general messiness the establishment is known for.

I started talking mostly to Andrew – he and his younger brother and sister were all born in Scotland yet he's the only one to retain the accent – the rest of his family apparently had no problem taking on the Australian accent after living in Perth. Andrew and I made good drinking buddies since neither of us drink particularly much and prefer to be a bit more mellow and enjoy just being out. I did, however, snag a 2 for 1 coupon and double-fisted some Jim Beam and diet cokes for $7, not bad really.

We played a few games of pool, one with two Americans – one girl actually grew up in the Albany area – and after the pub crawl came through we went to Harry's to get in a few more games. For the first time – shock! – I actually paid for a drink in Harry's. I figured, after all the times I've been in, I could afford, maybe just once, $7.50 for a beer – ugh, I shutter to think about that price, considering I could get a fine-crafted dark beer at Speights for only 7.

I ended up chatting with Andrew quite a bit and found that we have a lot in common, even got to the point of chatting about online video games and such. He's a graphic designer, and gave me his card, which is really nice – almost a video-game art sort of quality to it which brings me back to my youth, when I would buy video game strategy guides mainly for the art work. He invited me to dinner the following night, which would be his last night. After his brother Stu wandered off home, Bart drunkenly stumbled out looking for him and left, so it was a shame I didn't get to say goodbye, but I'm glad I would be able to see Andrew again.