“Right Behind You” by Our Lady Peace hits the right chords on a hot summer’s day… “I don’t know, but I believe in yesterday and what it means to bleed, and know that you’re okay. Are you waiting? No matter what you say. No matter what you do. No matter what, I’m always right there behind you…”
Finally got to meet up with the IC crew for dinner on Thursday. The last time I had seen them all together was last year at TGI Fridays and after thinking about it, it occurred to me how much time had quickly flown by. Everyone is still how I remember them and despite big gaps between our meetings, upon meeting, everything is like it was once before when we used to see each other everyday at University. As usual we ordered a variety of starters to share around and for the main course, I noticed they had crocodile and bison on the menu. Me being me, I just had to try it and I wasn’t disappointed either. Crocodile meat looks like chicken but tastes like tough chicken. Bison looks like a darker version of beef and tastes just a little more bitter than bovine. To top it all off, I had to go for death by brownies. By the time I had finished dessert, I was bloated and being reminded of H’s embarrassing incident on the train was just ill-timed, literally. I had totally forgotten about that incident where she went to grab the handrail behind her but ended up grabbing some guy’s crotch. She recounted the incident, elaborating on how long she grabbed him for, and how long she hovered her hand over him when she realised that it wasn’t a hand-rail (”Hmmm, this handrail seems to be covered in linen“). I hadn’t laughed so much in a long time. I had to place my head down on the table because I felt my sides would split, gushing crocodile and bison everywhere.
Biggest shock (and change) came courtesy of S who could have been mistaken for someone else! When he walked into the restaurant I had to double-take because all I could see was someone who carried himself and looked similar to someone I knew. He was looking remarkably slimmer (not that he was that big before anyway) and he was happy to have reached a point where he was standing victorious from the once ongoing battle against the bulge. It had taken around 2 years, but he had finally done it. He had managed to lose 25 kg, which is no walk in the park!
Speaking of walks in the park, met L yesterday to spend the day in Kew Gardens. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I was there, but I think it was when I was around 10 or so. All I remember was my brother being very young and the park naturally seemed much bigger from my boyhood frame. It really was a beautiful day but the weather was at times too hot for my liking. All I wanted as I walked around the gardens was refrigerated underwear and a cloud following me, constantly raining on me. I would have welcomed a little rain that day as long as it wasn’t a spray causing humidity like in the tropical greenhouses.
We got to see pretty much everything we intended on seeing. For all intents and purposes of description, we walked through tropical rainforests and crossed paths with marine life. And despite it being scorching temperatures outside, we embraced the slightly cooler outside air upon emerging from the greenhouses there. The day was quite perfect, short of me pushing L into the lake. That move would definitely have tested her sense of humour (and our friendship). When we reached the end of the gardens, we also spotted an open gate at the end of the park which suggested that we could have saved ourselves an admission fee (have to remember that for subsequent visits, perhaps when returning in winter).
We didn’t see too many garden workers or gardeners, so I wondered how they’re able to maintain everything for a piece of land that big. You’d not only need people to trim branches, but to feed the wildlife there too because there were plenty of birds there and signs everywhere asking patrons not to feed any of the feisty feathered animals there. The ducks probably have it easy there but that didn’t stop them from hanging around people with hampers, or pecking constantly at the ground in front of you. It seemed that the bigger ducks would boss around the other ducks and the bigger ones were usually together in pairs (possibly so they could attack humans, one from each side). One of the nicest sights in the gardens was seeing imprinting (i.e. babies latching onto the first thing they see as their mother) at its best: a trio of baby ducklings following their mother. Their haphazard waddling was too cute to describe. They looked almost like those toy ducklings from my childhood being pulled along with thread.
L made a good observation about how some of the ducks look like they could be Satan’s minions and how some of the tree lined boulevards reminded her of period dramas. Some of the trees had been around since the 17th century and from the old pictures on the signs accompanying some of the older trees, I could see that the tree hadn’t changed much over the years. I remembered the expression “The wisdom of trees” and was reminded of how timeless some things are. Some things last for a long time. Some things last forever.
Today, had to get up early to attend a wedding reception for the daughter of my mum’s friend. I was glad I was not the designated driver because it meant I was able to nap for an hour each way of the total 7 hours we were on the road! It was another hot day; too hot to be suited and booted but the heat didn’t seem to really faze anyone from having a good time. I had not seen some of my mum’s friends for a very long time and for a few it had been around 20 years! They were all quick to say how I still really resemble the young version of me they remember and how I was looking more and more like my dad. My mum was saying how I really look like him from behind, whatever that meant because the last time I checked, dad didn’t have longish dark brown hair with a reddish tint. For the time I was there I didn’t get totally embarrassed by my parents’ friends, which surprised me because this was a first. Maybe it’s because I’ve developed an immunity to their comments or maybe because I’m too old now to have my cheeks pinched and stetched. Oh, my face is so glad that those days have come to pass!
