In 1995 I was 26 years old.
I was working a million hours a week, running a restaurant in the north of England.
Ace of Base were huge on the dance scene.
In our limited time off, we would congregate in smoky dance clubs. Monday nights were the Saturday night, the party night, of all hard core hospitality staff.
When you work as hard as we did, in such anti-social conditions in such a teasingly social environment as as bars and restaurants, you party really hard too.
I worked with phenomenal crews and we were magnetised together in the total absence of normal hours normal conditions and normal work-place pleasantries.
When you pull 14 hour shifts with a whole load of other savvied folk in their early twenties, you get closer than you should, closer than you normally would. When you face the intense pressure of cooking for and serving 200 covers a night, fast, and hack it, you have a pressure release valve that is ready to explode.
You indulge in stuff you shouldn't, because you are so bloody tried but you are desperate not to waste the few hours you do have that you are not working; and you want to feel...feel different. And then you indulge some more in other stuff to recover. So that you can back up to work together again by lunchtime Tuesday.
With Ace of Base ringing in your recovering ears.
It's a beautiful life.
I have no regrets.
It's a beautiful life.
I have no regrets.
Arrrr the memories come flooding back - along with a few eeeks :) .... Much was experienced and learnt in this short space of time x x x all of which added many a shadings of colour to our primary palates and beautiful selfs - leaving us with lots of memories and special friendships x x
ReplyDeleteSo true my lovely Hazey...and SO glad to be back in touch with you. And quietly freaking out that I scheduled this post last weekend BEFORE you and Janine found me...spooky...we are all three of us evidently back on the same wavelength...
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I like the sound of that x x
DeleteI was 27/28 in 1995, and was about to leave my first marriage to go and live in Glastonbury. I too was partying hard, at events such as Earthdance, but also busy being a spiritual tourist in the realms of Native American shamanism and Castaneda. How I cringe now!!! But, like you, I have no regrets because it brought me here, where I am today :)
ReplyDeleteOh my! I have no doubt you'd have been in lot of the same places as my younger brother at the same period of time!
DeleteYes, maybe. Lots of festivals, gigs and free "dance parties", dancing for my friend's band (as those were the early days of the electronica revival, and lots of bands were just a couple of guys with headphones messing about with computers,keyboards and mixers so they needed a visuals element), dyeing my hair outrageous colours... and now I am going grey and trying to guide my daughter through her teens so she doesn't make all of the mistakes I did while I was having such an exciting and creative time. (She'll probably make different ones, and I will pick up the pieces, just like my mum did for me...!)
DeleteWhat a fantastic window in time and place you just opened for me! Do you write often about this era in your life?
ReplyDeleteOh how often I miss those times that firmly stopped with childrens arrival.. we often talk of going back but it would be all different.. tempted as hell though ;)
ReplyDeleteFancy a Party?.. One reason I am so glad I experienced this rich side of life is that I will understand my kids when they start to do so.. and anyone that thinks they won't is being ignorant x
I love reminiscing on the other lives within my life!
ReplyDeleteThank you for a glimpse of yours.
:-) xx
Snap! Sorta. Was living and working in Edinburgh in 1995. At the George intercon hotel. We all did exactly the same thing although in a club called century 2000. And a pub called the beau Brummell. I miss that and hooch ( the drink not the other type!)
ReplyDeleteHaha, ah this took me back - unfortunately not to a life in England - but to the school disco dance floor. Gotta love 90s music.
ReplyDeleteThe memories come back with Ace of Base, thanks for the walk down your memory lane.
ReplyDeleteMemories are beautiful aren't they?
ReplyDeleteI often reminisce about life before kids. I'm glad I got out and experienced some carefree days before the bottles and sleepless nights of a different kind.
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