19

Yummmmm!! Went out with the work girlies last night for a scrummy meal at Jimmy Spice's in Solihull. I like it as it's an all-you-can-eat buffet type of affair, which is fab if you're an indecisive bod like me. It does seem a tad weird to have pizza, curry, pasta and spring rolls all on the one plate, but you only live once, eh? Only disappointment was that there was no choccie cake for pudding, so I had to have apple pie with my ice cream and flumps...

Now I know I am getting older when I go out with the work gang as we seem to split into two distinct groups of 'oldies' and 'youngsters'. (Obviously I am an 'oldie' by age, but a 'youngster' at heart... yeah, right! Actually, I was the oldest there last night - eeek!) A couple of the girls are still in there teens and watching them getting louder and lairy as the alcohol consumption increases is more embarrassing than funny. Was I like that at their age? Well, no, actually, but that's a story for another day... I guess I did behave like that when I started going out drinking, but that was when I was 15 and I grew out of it pretty early on. I'd be horrified if I thought my daughter was sneaking into pubs and clubs and getting hammered on 8 pints of strong cider a night! (I couldn't even drink one pint now without getting tipsy....)

How times have changed! We used to spend our Friday and Saturday evenings sitting on the benches outside the offy in the Aston Triangle at Aston Uni (see blog from 1st June) until we were brave enough to try getting past the bouncers at the Pot of Beer. Other haunts included The Hummingbird nightclub in Dale End (now the Carling Academy) and The Institute nightclub in Digbeth. I can't believe I was only 15!! When I look at girls that age now, it scares me how young they are, yet how mature they think they are, and I guess I must have been the same. I think I was fairly responsible though, as although I liked a drink, I could hold it well and never got so rat-arsed that I didn't know what I was doing. I never did drugs or went off with strange men and always made sure I got a male friend to walk me and my best mate to the bus stop for the last bus home. Funniest part of the night was walking in the front door, trying to pretend I wasn't that drunk and chewing on gum to disguise the smell of ciggies on my breath! Oh, I thought I had my parents fooled....

So, back to last night; a good night was had by all and we 'oldies' departed at about 11 pm after finishing our J2Os and walking back to the car in our sensible shoes. After a cuppa at my boss's house, I came home to spend a very hot, restless night in bed before getting up at stupid o'clock to take D to work. Thank goodness he's on nights this week - I might be able to get some kip!