My good friend and tormentor, Nora has flown back in from that hell hole of a country she's been seconded to, for a few days of non stop mindless meetings here, and has decided that instead of being civilised and go out for drinks at a reasonable hour, she wants to do so NOW, now being 12.30 am. Well she's driven, that I'll admit!
I told her to go home, and that I was in bed and I'd see her tomorrow ... 'biaotch' .. is the response I get from her via sms. Charming as always I think, it seems the closer your friends are, the ruder the name calling heh heh! I send her a rude remark in reply and she calls me up,
"I'm coming over now to pick you up and we're going out" she growls at me.
"forget it mate, I'm not going anywhere at the time of night" I growl back (we growl very well as both of us have very low voices)
" Listen D, you're the one person I always make sure I see when I come back and I'm not sure how much time I'll have in the next few days and so we're going" she says
"Then make the time tomorrow you twat !" I respond, a load of expletives ensue from the other side of the phone.. even more charming I think ( I do love her to bits and this is our usual way of hostile negotiations!)
Ten minutes later she storms into my home, hurls some not so motherly advise to my eldest who lets admit it, is a rebellious adult, for want of a more polite way of explaining the late teen years.. oh yeah.. you all know the feeling. She rapid fire goes through all the things he's done in the last couple of months since she's seen him, presses some money into his hand to go get a hair cut (what an incentive eh...) and then literally frog marches me out the front door and bundles me into her SUV and says "drive!" (like I said... hostile negotiations!)
I hoist myself into the drivers seat, she pumps up the volume in the ahh.. not so pimp mobile, and says "lets go karaoke!" (don't you all start groaning ok!.. we LOVE to Karaoke! and we're not afraid to admit it!)
"Nora, it's almost 1 a.m, and everything will be shut around here", I remark, as she starts to give me instructions to go into town.
" Ok Ok" she concedes, "lets go to the burbs and see if the pub is open, should have live gigs there."
I u-turn the wanna be Dr Dre truck and we hip hop it till we arrive at the Pub. She finally notices I've cut my hair... "um it's cool, but I still prefer your long hair.." she says with her usual brand of honesty. "Thanks buddy, I still like your poofy hair too... " I grin at her, She gives me a dirty look and calls me another name, smiles and we head in to the Pub.
The Pub is on it's last call for drinks, we manage to get a round and head for the pool tables, I'm totally a spaz when it comes to Pool, unlike Nora, who loves to compete and pretend she's a Pool shark... my friends.. what can I say.
When she's finally had enough of playing Pool, (I think it's more enough of playing against me... I'm so utterly ka ka at the game!) we hunker down and catch up, I tell her I'm going to Australia to go have a "working vacation" .
"What the heck is that D" she asks me
"Well Stash wants me to come down and have a look at some possible business ventures with her and to look around the area she's in as a possible place to move to" I explain
"Ah.. OK.. I still think you'll end up in NZ. She stands up, grabs me in a hug and says "c'mon lets go eat... I so miss the food here".
We have a pleasant supper, I outline my plans for the next few months, Nora is relieved I'm back to work and getting it together, she's always been there even if it's to shout at me about the "realities" of life. Sometimes you do need to be checked, even better if it's by someone you admire and one who has a good head on her shoulders. She benevolently loads me off at home, and with a cheeky grin , bids me goodnight. I never know when I'm going to see her again, it could be tomorrow or the next few months, but it's always good to catch up with her no matter how little or much time we have, good friends know the difference between quality time and quantity time, and the cow made me think of NZ again... bugger.
Dx