Chuck Another Brim on the Barbie

Domesticated and intoxicated - Thur 20/Fri 21 Oct 2011

Thursday

Not much really happened on Thursday at work apart from the fact that we had a team meeting. The guys have a meeting every week to talk about the projects that they are doing and how things are going. Oh, and there is cake. The best thing about there being cake is that it is home-made every week. These guys actually have a cake baking schedule! This is just another of the great things about working with awesome people in a cool place and for a good company. In the immortal words of Will Berard; “bro, life is chill”.

I ended up staying quite late at work and had no plans for the evening. This led me to think that being a modern man by cooking and cleaning would be a good idea.

First was the food. I’d been shopping on the weekend and had just bought stuff like pizzas and bread so hadn’t really cooked properly at this point. I only planned to make some pasta with some chicken and sauce but it was a big leap from my usual eats so was actually looking forward to having some food that I cooked myself.

Pasta is easy enough. Boil kettle, pour in water to pan, put pasta in, wait. Frying a bit of chicken has never been a problem for me before and I followed the same basic plan this time; a little olive oil in the frying pan, wait until the oil is hot and then chuck it in.

Of course I set the smoke alarm off! A combination of too high heat, very sensitive smoke alarm and no ventilation put me into a mad panic. My brother calls the smoke alarm the ‘dinner bell’ because when it goes off, he knows that my mum has nearly finished cooking. Although this is an obvious jest, there is an element of truth in it fir the Brimble household.

I was flapping around the apartment, waving a tea towel at the alarm, taking my food off the stove and opening my door to let the smoke escape. None of it worked. Eventually I just turned the air conditioning on and after about 30 seconds, there was no more smoke and I was freezing cold. I was really worried that the sprinklers were going to go off and that I would be charged for masses of water damage.

As I was dishing my food up, I remembered that there is an extractor fan above the cooker. It’s hidden away and only comes on when pulled out. Idiot.

Later, I’d decided against vacuuming because it was around 10:30pm and I didn’t want to annoy any neighbours. I was doing laundry instead and managed tip half my box of washing powder onto the carpet. Better get vacuuming after all!

After a complete domestic fail, I crawled into bed feeling sorry for myself.

Friday

Work was still uneventful but for lunch we went to a curry place. I had a lamb rogan josh, bombay potatoes, dahl, rice and a naan bread. Very good stuff.

After work everyone was going out to celebrate someone who works in the office’s birthday and I was invited along. I had to stay in work until about 6:45pm for a conference call so I told everyone that I would meet them there.

By the time I got back to Freshwater the rugby (Australia vs Wales, 3rd place playoff in the Rugby World Cup) was already 10 minutes into the first half so I stayed in to watch Wales lose (what is going on with their kicking?). It was still fairly early at this stage so I sent Gio a text to see if the guys were where they said they were going to be.

I knew it was 300-something Lonsdale Street so I walked up to try and find the place. The guys had described it as Niagara Bar so that’s what I was looking for. After walking around for about an hour and not finding the place, I was on my way home when I got a reply from Gio saying that they were still there but won’t be for long.

I asked him for directions and it turns out that I had walked past this place about 4 times! The place was actually called Club Retro and has a big sign on the outside to prove it. They called it Niagara because it is also the Niagara Hotel and is next to Niagara lane. Google Maps says that it is Club Retro dammit!

I got there at 9:05 and there was a $15 entry fee after 9. Another fail it seems. I did get a free drink with that ($7.50) though so only a small punch in the wallet. As I went in, I immediately turned right and couldn’t find anyone. I then tried the 1st floor which was completely empty. I climbed all the way to the roof terrace and still couldn’t find anyone.

I went back down to ground and decided to get my free drink before leaving as they were definitely not there any more. I was at the bar when Jaspal comes over and asks me when I got here. They were on the left side of the ground floor. It seems that I am in idiot mode at the moment, maybe it is the lack of sleep due to jet lag.

There were a bunch of people there and quite a few that I’d never met before. I actually got to meet some of the people that raise bugs that I end up fixing which was strange in it’s own way. A few more drinks in and Jasapal, Gio and I went up to the roof terrace just to have a look around. It’s pretty cool and was full of people so we stayed up there a while to chat.

Nick joined us about 10 minutes later and we discussed where to go next. The decision was to try and wing it into a rooftop bar that requires a reservation and failing that, a bar called Section 8. We said bye to everyone (by this point Gommy was swaying and the staff were mopping up his spillages around him), and headed off.

We were obviously denied the rooftop bar because we had no reservation (it seems being just a group of guys also makes a difference here) so walked around the corner to Section 8.

I’m not sure how to describe Section 8 because it is an odd ‘venue’ It is essentially unused space between two buildings that has been turned into an outside bar. There is a tin roof providing some shelter and the walls of the surrounding buildings have graffiti murals on them but other than that there is no real feeling that you are ‘in’ somewhere.

Down one side is a long bar and there are a lot of seats and heaters but apart from that, it is essentially just a cool open space. When we walked in we were greeted by two huge kiwi bouncers that Nick chatted to briefly. We were again asked why we hadn’t brought any girls but were admitted regardless.

We got some more rum and coke and chatted a bit more about the area. The cool thing about Melbourne is that even if you just bump into someone accidentally, you can have a pleasant conversation and a laugh with some complete strangers.

We had a few more drinks, chatted to some more people and listened to some good funk and soul music. I was really liking this place and could see why it was a regular haunt for the other guys.

I’d made the complete error of signing up for overtime on Saturday so was constantly watching the time to make sure that I could leave at a reasonable hour. It was a shame that midnight rolled around so fast, just as people were talking of moving onto a club. It was at this point that I decided that going home would probably be the most sensible idea.

Nick was off chatting to someone (Will: he has a similar mandate to you) but I think my wanting to leave put a bit of a downer on the party spirit and as such Gio decided that he was hungry and wanted to leave to.

Gio, Jaspal and I left Nick to chat away and headed for KFC. I have walked past this KFC so many times and not even noticed it was there. I got a the good ol’ fillet burger meal and was quite content. We all lived in Freshwater so walked back together. Once back at the flat, I realise just how drunk I had gotten (I felt stone cold sober while I was out) and just wanted to get to bed.

I couldn’t sleep until around 2:30am, all the while knowing that I had work early the next morning. It was a really nice and chilled introduction to the Melbourne night life but I can’t wait until I get a chance to go all out. Next week maybe?