You and your friends, in boxes of ten

I think I told you that I’d be invited to go down to Chichester at the weekend, but already had plans here in Thanet, as is always the way.

Well on Thursday night I decided that my time would be better spent going to Chi as I only go down there a few times a year, and I can see my local friends whenever I want, and so at around 11:30am on Saturday I set off on my 135 mile trip to West Sussex. Now Kent isn’t really that far from West Sussex, but I live of the most Eastern point, so that’s what adds the miles on, but I don’t actually mind the drive as it’s pretty easy and I get to chill and listen to lots of music…. and stop off and take pictures of cows.

I arrived around 2pm and had a little drive around and popped up to the Uni to have a stroll around campus to see if anything had changed. Well a lot of it’s changed and they’ve built some huge halls of residences, and it definitely looks a lot newer than when I was there (amazing what a lick of paint will do.)

I popped up to watch a bit of footy as the Uni team were playing and I saw Sid there, who runs the Sports at the University, and then I popped off at 3:30pm to meet up with Karen who was finishing work, and whose floor I would be kipping on. It was Karen’s birthday the other week, and so she, along with Miffy and James who had also had recent birthdays, had decided to have a big meet-up and this was another reason for being in Chichester. The thing is that Karen had kinda forgotten and had a gig at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, and had to leave soonsish and wouldn’t be back ’til 11ish, and so I headed off on my own down the town to indulge in some nostalgia. I text a few people but they were’nt gonna be around ’til the evening and so I was flying solo, which I didn’t actually mind….for a few hours.

I eventually made my way down to Chichester Gate, the end of town entertainment hub, with the generic cinema, Chicago Rock Cafe, Frankie and Benny’s, Lloyds Bar, Ten Pin Bowling, etc thing going on, and knowing I had a few hours to spare I went in to watch a film. Obviously my choice of film was completely dependant on the time, and so I watch Babel, a film I knew nothing about except that it had Brad Pitt in it. I came out of the cinema at 8pm on the dot and headed for my rendezvous.

Normally when I’ve come down I’ve seen the same old people but this time it was like a reunion as I got to see quite a few people I haven’t seen for a long time, most of which were in my year at University or the year below. We had chats, gossiped, and it was nice to catch-up.

We even had a celebrity with us as James had brough his girlfriend Laura (from the Scott Mills Radio 1 show) with him. It must be quite odd meeting new people who may consider that they already know you as they’ve read a lot about you, heard you talking on the radio, or in this case read your diary. I’m glad to say that she was really nice and has made one of my mates really happy.

After the pub we all went back to Karen and Miffy’s house and the highlight of the party was everyone having a go on Singstar, basically Karaoke on the PS2. It got to 3am and it was time for bed.

The next day Karen and myself had a wander around town, went to a bootfair, and then grabbed lunch with Miffy and Rich. Lunch was good, especially after beers. My time in Chi was drawing to an end and so I bid my fairwells and met up with Jamie for a spot of football on the top field at Uni. Sunday football was a bit of an institution at Uni and everyone used to meet up and have a game for a few hours, and it was great fun especially in the summer. I’m glad it’s still happening.

At around 4pm I got in my car and headed back for Ramsgate.

You may have realised that I really like Chichester, and if things had worked out differently in life then I may have still been there, but the grass is always greener, and I am content with my brief visits at weekends, as I know that during the week it would be f**king boring!