Return of the evening

SO...

after three twelve/thirteen hour days, and a full day at work yesterday, my brain gave up all hope of interpreting words, and I went home to pay the Aussie a visit for dinner. After a brief sojourn to Tesco's, he cooked lamb. Niiiiice. I never have lamb unless I'm at home-home! :)

Half a bottle of Pinot down each, he suggests that — as there's not really anyone else around — we pay a visit to Gilferd's lord bar. The immortal words "fuck it" sprang instantly to mind... so we did.

Bit of a random evening, actually. I wasn't in the mood for getting drunk originally, but half a bottle of white wine went down exceedingly well. Much more easily than the food, although that was really nice.

But here's the weirdest thing. Eenglish, when he was round at the Aussie's on Wednesday night, said the new tenant was 9.5 on the scale. Vee nice. But later that evening, he texted to say that he hadn't been made aware that Age was gay, and that he wouldn't be moving in now because of it. Even though he seemed "really cool". Brilliant.

Admittedly, I was disappointed that I didn't get to see the guy wandering through the living room in a towel... bad dave... but that wasn't actually what had me reeling. What made me quite speechless was the mixture of self-justification and homophobia. The guy was apparently 23 and a design graduate, with a girlfriend in Hampshire. Now, if he's managed to get through life so far without any gaylord friends or colleagues, I'll be amazed. So how did he think that what he was writing was going to help? So when the Aussie's landlord came round with a prospective new tenant (female this time), he introduced her as "not homophobic(!)".

I think it knocked me a bit sideways — the fact that there were people younger than me in professional careers with that attitude — because I've had an almost uniformly good experience since I came out. At least, if many people have changed their attitude to me, I don't know about it, so I'm in blissful ignorance... Maybe it's my first brush with real life, or the experiences you read about occasionally from very angry people in the lord mags... It's just left me feeling a bit odd, and bad for Age, too, that he feels that he might have to declare his leanings to all new housemates.

Years ago, when I worked in that restaurant, the owner mentioned that the other waiter was gay. This was eight years ago, in a corner of the country which is not known for its liberal views on poofs, but I still felt surprised that she'd felt the need to mention it. So perhaps that's why I feel it's so strange that in this opposite corner, which isn't exactly bible-belt, someone had such strong feelings...

Anyway, maybe I should end on some happy notes.
First, I got the car MOT'd (though not all sorted out), thanks to those absolute stars in Cranners.
Second, this lord pub was actually alright lastnight. Much to our surprise. We stayed for three drinks, which always means a place can't be that bad. Then back to the Aussie's for a beer and — randomly — a Southern Comfort and coke. Until about 1:30 am.

Then I went back and stared at the Geordie totty on Big Brother for five minutes before I realised I was pissed and needed sleep.

It's only bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Friday.