Saturday Night's All Right...

Today is my Aussie workmate Erin's birthday. To see her birthday in with a bang, she decided to go dancing with her housemates last night and invited me to come along. We've become good friends in the year we've known each other, so I was really looking forward to joining in with her birthday celebrations. Plus, we haven't actually had a proper night out together since we've known each other, I haven't been dancing in a long while and I hadn't met her friends before, so there were lots of things to look forward to.

After get back to my place from being with the 'rents, I was running a little late (quelle surprise). Not having been out for a while to anywhere that requires anything resembling glamour, I spent several long minutes working out what I could wear that would look a little dressy, but would also not have me starting the night early by dancing at the bus stop just to keep warm. Try as I might, I'll generally always go for comfort or practicality over fashion and style, any day. I mean, not to an extreme. But if those gorgeous high heels that complement the rest of the outfit perfectly are going to give me an unattractive hobble within an hour of walking with them? I'll pass, thanks. In any case, the low-heeled boots I went with drew attention from a random teenage girl at the train station, who announced, "Her boots are sexy." I'm not always sure how to deal with complements from male randoms, but teenage girls? That's a new one to me. Anyway, I digress...

With affirmation of my choice of footwear from the local youth, I made my way over to Erin's place in She' Bu'.* Even though I live 20 minutes away from the place we were going to and had to pass it on the way, meeting at theirs meant I could meet the girls, have a quick bite to eat and we could all get there together. Although I have no problem with public transport, I forget that trains have fluorescent lighting and that make-up intended for the low, flattering lights of a bar or nightclub just borders on 'drag queen' when out of context. Eek. After a non-eventful journey there, I arrived at Erin's, met her three mates who were to be my company for the evening, and guy friend Nathan who had been chilling with them but wasn't brave enough to accompany five women on a night out. I don't blame him. :o)

I managed to stuff my face with pizza before we left, a teeny bit late, to get a bus to the station for the 9.15 train. The bus unexpectedly pulled over a stop short of the station, and Erin, ever-practical and quite anal in the most endearing way about the evening's plans, accosted the driver. "Don't you stop around the corner?" Apparently he did, but Erin was adamant that the bus wasn't meant to stop where it had done. "He's not meant to stop there! I'm telling you, I get this bus every day. The 207 does, but we're on the 260. He shouldn't have stopped there!" We teased her mercilessly about this for the rest of the journey. "Dear TFL, I'd like to make a complaint. At 9.10 on Saturday 24th January, a driver on the 260 bus let passengers alight at a stop that was not designated for his route!"

We got off the bus and said our goodbyes to Nathan, but Erin had already run across the road to the station. We followed after her, but checking the clock it seemed we had missed the train by 1 minute. The next one wasn't for 15 minutes, but we were pushing it to get there before 10pm, when the entrance fee would double from £5 to £10. We waited for the train, with a platform full of other people, of all different backgrounds - two Chinese men with several bags of shopping, a Filipino family with two children in buggies, a young black guy alone listening to music through his earphones, a young couple on their way to a party, the lady rather elegantly attired, the man dressed as Charlie Chaplin, complete with bowler hat, black moustache and black umbrella in place of a cane. There was also a group of 6 or so slightly drunk English men, still with pint glasses in hand, just next to us.

After waiting 5 minutes or so, we discovered our train was delayed. The usual generic announcement by a well-spoken female came over the tannoy, "I am sorry to announce that the 9.35 train is delayed. We apologise for any inconvenience." Erin expressed her annoyance at the delay, "Yeah, she'll be sorry for the inconvenience. She doesn't even sound sorry!" We were in stitches again. "Dear TFL, I'd like to lodge a formal complaint. On Saturday 24th January, the 9.35 train from Shepherd's Bush was delayed. The woman who announced it said she was sorry for this, but her regret was unconvincing! I want a refund!"

There was a long flight of stairs from the ticket office down to the platform. While standing on the platform, you could see the full length of the stairs. I was just musing on the incredible mix of people that were stood together on an ordinary Saturday night, waiting for a train, each person with very different plans for the evening ahead, when we were distracted by a noisy group of people at the top of stairs...

* That's Shepherd's Bush to the rest of us - I love how Aussies have a shortened version for everything. PS - I've only put a link explaining where Shepherd's Bush is, because I have it on good authority that Googling it can bring up search results you might not want to know about...