The ladies were going to the pub after work yesterday, ostensibly as a leaving do for Geoffrey, although Geoffrey wasn’t there. I was leaving at two, (though I got talking to Sue again and it was half past), but I said I might meet them there. They were meeting at half past four.
I was also planning to go and see the fireworks at the rugby club, and then to get fish and chips afterwards. It’s what we used to do years ago, Hubby and I, when we had our first house, just down from the rugby club. Later, with the children, we used to go to the village fireworks, but we went again to the rugby club four years ago, after the cat incident, when we were patching things up. I thought I’d go this year as I’m in walking distance again, maybe just to watch from the street if I didn’t feel like going inside.
Thinking about that has reminded me of one year when we were living there and didn’t go. I think it was about 1979 or 1980. I remember being curled up in the chair waiting for him to come home listening to 'I hear you now' by Jon and Vangelis and wondering what I wanted from my life, and then he got back from work late and we had a row and missed the fireworks. It was the time of the first real crisis in our relationship, the time when I was trying to decide whether I really wanted to stay with this man or whether I wanted to be free and face the risks of a future alone. I stayed, of course, and later we resolved things and moved house and after that we got married. In fact looking back it seems that whenever I seriously contemplated leaving him, we ended it by moving to somewhere else, as though the dissatisfaction I felt was to do with where I was physically and not emotionally.

Anyway, I digress. I walked down to the pub at half past four, and the girls were there, Tina, Sue, Lorraine and Victoria. There was a bottle of zinfandel on the table. ‘Get yourself a glass’ they said, so I did, though I don’t usually drink rosé. Actually, it was very nice. A bit too nice. Sue bought another bottle. I went to the loo and checked my watch. Still only six, another couple of hours till the fireworks. Victoria’s husband arrived, he ordered something to eat and bought another bottle. Lorraine left. Victoria and Gerry are emigrating to Australia. I hadn’t really met her before, but we had a good chat. Her leaving do is going to be on Thursday, at an Italian place round the corner that I’ve wanted to try for ages. I wasn’t on the invitation list because I didn’t really know her, but I might go now.
Sue and Tina left. Gerry went to the bar and came back with another bottle of zinfandel and a Guinness for himself. There were only the three of us still there. Victoria said: ‘You’ve got to stay and help me drink it!’ When I checked my watch, it was gone eight already. A bit late for the fireworks. We left about nine. I walked home and rolled into bed.