Exactly one year ago today, I went with Deanna on my first – and so far only – night out. I know this because I blogged about it on that very afternoon, writing a post which remains the most-read of any so far on this site, with 63 views. Without looking back at it, I seem to remember looking forward to the evening ahead because it was uncharted territory that I was eager to be finally exploring. I was right to feel like that, as it turned out, because one year on I still look back on that night fondly, and I’m very glad to have spent it with a friend as dear as Deanna.

It began in the first of four pubs we visited during the evening, with my first of five JD and Cokes, and ended just before 3.30 on Sunday morning when I had to stop Deanna – who was by that stage decidedly worse for wear – from lighting a cigarette in a petrol station. In between, there was my very first cocktail, the simple but very tasty Black Russian, at least two pints of beer to accompany the six other aforementioned drinks, and various tipsy snippets of conversation I can’t recall with people I can barely remember either. There was one bloke who was a friend of Deanna’s, and I bonded with him to the point of declaring him my best friend, as you do when you’ve had a few – except I haven’t seen him since, and until Deanna confirmed he was real I even wondered if he was just a figment of my imagination. She and I both paid the price for all the alcohol consumption the next morning with particularly sore heads, but I didn’t mind too much.

I felt that my first night out had been some kind of initiation test for adulthood that I had passed with flying colours, and although she already seemed a seasoned veteran at that sort of thing, Deanna enjoyed it too and we still reminisce now. She stayed at my house that night, and took the opportunity to scrawl a message on my whiteboard upon waking up in the morning:

“Thanks for a great (albeit hazy) night! xxx”

Even now, I haven’t rubbed it off – partly because I can’t be bothered, and partly for posterity. I could be reminded of far worse things, after all! Deanna and I did try to organise another night out shortly after that one, but we never got round to it and as I say, I haven’t been on one since. Frankly, at a time when I’m feeling pretty unmotivated to do anything at all, I wonder if it might do me good to finally repeat the experience, be it with Deanna, someone else or on my own. Maybe I’ll write a “Part 3” as a sequel to this post if it ever happens. But in the meantime, I just thought I’d commemorate the anniversary. It’s actually made me crave a JD and Coke…*

*other drinks are available

Mason