It did remind me of the old days. You know when you viewed staying up all night as an achievement. How fucked up is that? You actually placed value and pride on depriving your body of sleep and staying awake partying. The buzz of dawn and seeing light. The birds singing and then the ultimate thrill? Seeing people go to work as you remained off your head. The nervous walk to the office licence at 8am in order to get your provisions to get through the day. "12 cans of red stripe, a yorkie bar , 20 Marlboro reds and a packet of Rizlas please". Breakfast of Kings.
Perhaps that is why there is such an unemployment problem with 16-21 year olds in this country. When you go for an interview or apply for a job and they ask, "What are your greatest achievements?" and you reply, "Staying up all night". Enough said.
I remember those days. You thought you would remain that way and age forever. The whole world was a big laugh without any cares & your whole life stretched out in front of you. Then I became a sales executive. Where did it all go wrong? Sometimes I wonder to myself, 'How did those days go by so quickly?' Why did I piss about so much? Why did i never listen. What is it about humans that when they get between the ages of 16 and 21 you turn into some kind of tosser and never listen, always know best and usually make the worst decisions in the world. Right of passage I guess.
They say look at the past don't stare. I genuinely prefer who I am now to the person I was back then, though I had proper good fun. All of us were in the same boat. We were all young and liked getting on it. The best feeling was when you were with your mates, you'd got 3 pints inside of you and whole evening, day stretched out in front of you. It was the feeling of conviviality or companionship of safety of fun and with all your friends together you never wanted it to end. I liked those times. I like having good friends you banter and click with.
As you get older and everyone (else) seems to grow up. To get serious jobs, careers, wives, mortgages, kids or alcohol dependency issues those times change. Friendships change. You don't spend much time together and you have to turn into a 'grown up', which is hard. There is no rule book. Most people to me look like they do it seamlessly. But I know under the surface people find it hard. We haven't got all the answers and we are all doing the best we can.
It is a shame though as to some extent your fiends know you the best. Obviously your family Know and love you so well. They're front row in the wedding, but your friends know you really well. Your devil side, your social side, your naughty side. And friendships are important. They are your blue print and DNA of your life. A life without friends is a lonely joyless existence.
I am lucky I have many old friends I have known for a long time. What If you move to a new area, to a new place, get divorced? What if you lose your friends, making new ones in London is difficult. You cannot build up a history in a week. You need friendships to mature and grow. You need proper people around you, not mentalist shallow people but genuine people who you click with. You only really need 2 or 3 good ones. Particularly ones who don't judge you. These are the best.
I rarely see my pals anymore as they are all busy having kids and families. Obviously I'm not part of that scene (yet) and thus our lives are different. I do miss Man time with my old mates though. When the banter just flows and you can shed all layers and be yourself. Sometimes being an adult is too serious. Sometimes responsibility is hard to keep up. Obviously I've avoided it all my life so I'm OK but I see my friends and I admire them, though selfishly I think, 'I wish i could win the lottery so I could get you Nannies and we could hang out more'.
So with this in mind, for my 40th birthday present. My 2 oldest mates gave me a rather unique present. They gave me themselves for the weekend. They had secured time off for good behaviour from their wives and kids for a Man weekend. We were to go away to a static caravan somewhere in South Wales and do a road trip, just the 3 of us. That day is tomorrow and I can't wait.
For any readers who don't know what a static caravan is, effectively it's exactly like your house but much smaller and placed on a holiday park near the seaside. Brits love all home comforts and a static caravan is anything but comfortable. chemical khazi, tiny beds and cramped living enviroment that makers arguments so easy, but there is something so classic, so British about them.I love them.
We are going to where i used to go as a kid. Wisemans Bridge Caravan Park, Saundersfoot, South Wales. To a 3 bedroom static caravan, Tide Reach 1, for a Mans weekend of bonding and being a man. It's our 40 year old road trip and I love it. That's our home for the weekend above.
Static caravans are awesome. British seaside towns out of season are superb, South Wales is just class and hilarious so I'm really looking forward to it.
We are using it as a Welsh Men's Retreat for burnt out 40 year old to get their masculinity back after emasculation of modern life. Kids, families, Boy Bands and exfoliation creams. Metro sexual man has ruined us. We need out identity back. Men have lost their way and a static caravan is a perfect place to reclaim it. We can sit in our pants, leave scotch egg crumbs all down our fronts. we can leave things laying around, we can sit with other men in silence and not talk about anything at all. We can be men.
We can use one of the rooms as a chill out room. A chance for man to go and watch endless repeats of sport from the 80's to reclaim that spirit of youth. We can chant into the howling wind on the seafront and look out to sea and ponder some of Mans greatest questions like 'Who scored the own goal in the 1987 FA cup final' and the meaning of life and stuff.
South Wales is wonderful and it will be fun and I am looking forward to it so much. 2 recovering alkies and a depressive in an out of season welsh static caravan park at 40 years old. Sounds like a sit com to me
xx
lots lots of hunting, fishing,grunting, meditating will be required then because in order to reclaim one's masculinity one ought to have pride but not boastfulness, push fear aside, be dutiful & chivalrous & (this is a big one) be confident enough to take defeat on the chin & not pass the buck of blame unfairly... good luck with all that!!
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