Fin. Next!

On Saturday, I hit the pub early for the Rugby with the Hosford lot. When I say 'Hosford lot', take the 'lot' part literally - I was so pleased that so many friends from work, past and present, came out to say goodbye. Of course, I had a wee cry. And Ireland won.

Unfortunately, it seems I have no peers at (ex)work who can match my drinking stamina (booooo that), and they all rolled home before 12. I, however, went on down to Lavery's and had a whole other night out with a whole other set of friends. Saw Cutaways, played some pool, drank some Buckfast, hung out with some friends I hadn't seen in ages and rocked up home for 3am. I couldn't seem to get my key to work in the front door and ended up climbing in a window - with hindsight, I'm lucky not to have broken my neck!

Then on Sunday I went down to the Holi Festival in St George's Market with Jo, and met up with Rachel down there just in time to play with the colours in the arena. I haven't had as much fun in ages - apparently all I need is some loud bhangra music, some coloured paint powder and a few hundred strangers to get over a wretched hangover. The hot Spanish men on the paella stall didn't hurt either, to be fair.
There is something incredibly liberating about the whole experience, feeling unfamiliar hands on your face smearing colours all over, and returning the favour, watching people smiling with their big painty happy faces. I'd do it every day if I could.

Afterwards, Rach and I went round to ikon in the Black Box. The theme was 'Thrown Together', and the whole experience was very reflective, lots of silence. It all felt very relevant to me personally - I thought a lot about recording moments and experiences, how I have traditionally been very lazy that way, how I am making an effort to change that. The very existence of this blog is testament to that. I wondered why I feel compelled to do this now, what is the value of a written or visual record of a moment as long as I have my memory? Maybe I'm afraid I will forget. I don't even have an answer. I'm hoping to experience a lot of being 'thrown together' while I am away, fleeting human contact, transient moments that I can't recreate. I want to make sure I will always have them.

The thing I am avoiding the most now is packing away all the crap I'm leaving behind. I'm going to try and throw a lot of it out, I'm sure I don't need any of it. I do want to get it out of the way sooner rather than later, it would be great to get it all done so I don't have to think about it. Today though, I have updated my CV and started to properly look out jobs. Money is the only part of going away I am still considerably apprehensive about.