Saturday Night Fever

After docking at Circular Quay I made my back to the hostel to get ready for my Saturday night.  I had arrangements to meet one of my mother’s friends David who lived in Toronto nearly 20 years ago. David was kind enough to invite me to join some of his friends down at the Opera Bar for cocktails.  

I made my down to the harbour for about 9p.  The quay area was a buzz on a warm summer night, every bar, café and restaurant was at capacity with a beautiful allotment of people.  As the name suggests the Opera Bar is located on the lower concourse near The Opera House with a fantastic view of the Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay and the Rocks.  

Unfortunately, I do not recall meeting David from my younger days.  He is now a flight attendant (international) with Virgin Airlines.  All of his friends gathered to revel and recollect their shared history from working under the same fashion house some 10yrs ago, which seemed to be a semi-annual effort to stay in touch.  

After getting acquainted with David over a couple of drinks, I was beginning to feel slightly out of sorts.  However, after most people played catch up with one another and more drinks were consumed I was more at ease meeting some of his mates who have all remained in the fashion industry. 

I bonded with a small sect of crazy folks amid the dozen or so people in attendance. There was Patsy, working with Bally (handbags) who was a sophisticated and sassy.  We engaged in some insightful discussions.  Then there was Josh and Darren, both crazy rambunctious guys that had a no holds barred in dialogues about sex and men.  Although overt at times, they were hilarious – especially Josh who enjoyed being a little impish.  Lastly, there was Lizzy, she was a spunky gal that was a dancing machine as the band & DJ raved on to funk/electronic beats.  I was beginning to suspect there was maybe more at play than alcohol.  My suspicions were later confirmed at our next venue.

After getting our fill of drinks with some of us a little tipsy, we opted to sever from the rest of crew to hit a dance floor in Darlinghurst.  After some internal debate in the cab ride, we took Lizzy’s lead to meet up with some of her friends at the Supperclub.  She agreed to take care of the cover charges, so who were we to object?

The club was jammed with twinkies and playing a mash up of pop/hip hop songs.  None of us were all too impressed, but a few more cocktails and a treat handout from Lizzy to a couple of us remarkably made the atmosphere more palatable.  David and Patsy left the festivities sometime around midnight, but the remaining four of us continued on dancing, drinking and partying into the wee hours of the morning before I stumbled back to Kings Cross.  

It was gracious of David to take on the burden/favour for my mother and I’m glad he did.  It was a pleasure to meet him and it was another great night with some local folk, although I suspected Sunday would be a little more subdued affair, er recovery.