Leisure

I got up and put the kettle on this morning. As I walked past the lounge I saw Jon's bare foot poking out from under the blanket on the arm of the sofa. This was his second consecutive night in this exact position. His face was only inches away from a full ashtray and several empty beer cans on the coffee table. The sofa itself was flanked by dirty plates and empty food cartons.

I gave him a kick and told him to wake up. He sat up frowning and stared into space for a few seconds before stretching his arms above his head. While his arms were in the air he looked down at his weed on the coffee table and his hands fell back down onto it. I made some toast and switched on the Playstation. We both took our places on the sofa. We'd been in these same positions for almost the entire weekend. From Friday night until that point, on Sunday lunchtime.

After a few hours of being totally involved in the gaming I noticed that it was a nice day, so I opened the windows and sat back down again and carried on. I could hear car stereos from the passing cars as we sat there.

After a couple more hours I suggested that, seeing as it was a nice day, we should go up the pub.

-


There is a garden at the Seven Bells. It's a bit of tarmac out the back that looks onto the car park. There are a couple of wooden pub tables, chained to the wall. We walked in that way and saw that there were no seats. One guy's car was parked right there and he had the stereo going.

We decided to stand at the bar. It was busy. We ordered two pints and looked around. A lot of people were wearing shorts and flip-flops. Almost everyone had sunglasses either on, or sitting on their head.

We stood there for a while not saying much and then a guy we knew walked in: Pete Greenfield.

We hadn't seen Pete for a while because he'd moved up to the city a year or two before and rarely came back. Everyone likes Pete, he's a nice guy. He saw us, gave a little wave and came over.

'well hello lads' he said and shook our hands.

The first thing I noticed about Pete was that he looked healthy. He had a natural tan and clear eyes. Physically he looked both light and muscular. No stranger to sport. I looked back over to Jon to make a comparison. He was hunched onto the bar for support and the only colour in his face was the pink of his eyeballs.

'Good to be back in the local eh!' Pete said looking around.

'what brings you back down here?' I asked.

'Actually I was just passing through on my way back up town'

'Where've you been?

'climbing'

'What' said Jon, 'around here?'

'Yeah, up the front of the pound shop' he said laughing, 'no no, out in the country'

I noticed he was wearing high-tech looking gear.

'It's only about 45 minutes from here' he said, 'You boys should see it. Lovely spot in the forest. There's a valley with several steep rock faces. We started out this morning. Beautiful day for it. You hike down into the valley and start out from the bottom by the river. A mate of mine has all the gear. You work your way up slowly, finding footholds. You have to be fit. It's a great feeling when you get to the top, looking down into the valley. Seriously boys you should try it'

'Cool' I said and Jon and me looked at each other. 'about this being fit' I said.

'Nah, you'd be alright' he said slapping me on the arm and laughing. 'Soon build up strength.'

'Like I said it's about 45 minutes from here by car anyway, and seeing as I was driving back through the old burbs, I though I'd stop in for a pint.'

Pete carried on for a while, telling us about the climbing. It did sound amazing, and he was so enthusiastic. We didn't ask any more questions about how we might actually go about doing it however. It sounded great but it was unimaginable that we might actually go and do it. It wasn't us. We both knew somehow that we would at no future point end up clinging to the side of that valley in the countryside, so we just listened to Pete talking about it.

Pete said that they'd set out at 7am that morning.

'that's a bit harsh for a sunday!' I said.

'Tell me about it' he said laughing, 'I was at this gig last night, near my place. Really cool bar and they have some crazy bands. Anyway, this girl came round giving out flyers. Real alternative chick you know, with a mad haircut. Fit as well. I'd already had a few and was feeling good so I stared flirting with her. Then I snatched the flyers off her, playful like, and said I'd give them them back once she gave me her number. She said she I couldn't have it but once she'd finished working she might come back and let me buy her a drink.'

As he was talking the bartender came over and put a pint on the bar, Pete picked it up, gulped back a mouthful and let out a long satisfied 'ahhh'.

'Nothing like a beer at the end of the day' he said, 'so anyway, later on I was standing there chatting to my mates and she came over and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and looked at her. She said- 'come on then' and gave a little nod towards the door. That was it. I didn't even have to buy her a drink.'

Pete had a little chuckle and shook his head.

'So anyway, she lives in a big town house over on the other side of town and I woke up there this morning and had to get a taxi back to my place at half six to get my stuff.'

'I'm gonna sleep well tonight' he added and shook his head again.

Jon and me laughed with him, but we had nothing to add, and nothing else to say.

'Well I'd better be off boys' Pete said slapping his empty glass on the bar. 'If you're ever up town let me know'

Pete walked out and Jon and me looked at each other.

'Another one?' I asked him holding up my empty glass.

'How about a kebab?' he said.

-

We walked over to the kebab shop and both ordered chips in pitta bread. After a few minutes the guy behind the counter handed them over and we sat down on at one of the plastic tables.

Jon was lucky to born in the era of fast food. It's hard to imagine him in a nice restaurant, eating nicely and making conversation. He laid his food out on the table, leaned over it and started loading the chips into his mouth two at a time.

We hadn't really said much since Pete left anyway. I ate my chips and looked out the window. It was a warm summer evening and was still light.

'What shall we do?' I said

'what?' said Jon, then stopped eating to think about it for a moment and said 'dunno'.

'We could go somewhere.' I said, 'it's not that late'

'It's Sunday' said Jon with a mouthful of chips.

'It's not too late' I said.

-

We sat in Jon's car, in the car park round the back of the pub. I'd persuaded Jon that we should go and do something, rather than back to the sofa at my place, but I didn't have any ideas.

'where to then?' said Jon starting to look fed up.

After hearing Pete talk about that club up in the city, the first thing that came to mind was to go up town and find a cool bar, maybe with a live band or DJ. No problem on a Sunday up there. We'd be able to find something happening. Or maybe one of the places near the river where you can stand outside with a beer and watch the all girls go by.

'I ain't going up town' said Jon after I'd asked him, and said it in such a way that it was final.

I thought it over for a bit and Jon lit up a cigarette.

'I'll go up Blockbusters' he said, offering me a compromise.

Blockbuster Video is near the shopping centre 10 minutes away and would surely involve only choosing a film and then returning to the sofa no more than thirty minutes later. I had to think fast. Having heard Pete talking about the valley where he'd been rock climbing, it made me think of a really great country pub I'd been to once that had a big garden next to a river. It was way out in the countryside in a really nice spot. There would be plenty of people down there having a drink on a sunny evening. I suggested it and Jon looked at me for a few seconds.

'Is that a joke?' he said, 'it's fucking miles away'.

He took one last drag on his cigarette and threw it out the window.

'It's Blockbusters or nothing' he said starting the engine.


-


We drove up towards the shopping district. It forms part of the same suburb really but has a lot more shops and things. On the way I was hoping to think of something else to do in the few minutes before we got there.

We passed the cinema, which was already lit up and had quite a few people outside. I looked up at the films advertised on the outside and the selection was so unappealing I didn't even want to suggest it. Next we passed the bowling alley. I imagined Jon and me alone in the bowling alley. Pete wouldn't go to a bowling alley. I said nothing. I saw a pub that looked like it had disco lights shining in the windows. When we got closer I saw a sign saying Karaoke. I said nothing. Then before long we'd arrived and parked up outside Blockbusters.

-

Inside Blockbusters there were five people. A youngish couple, a middle-aged man and two members of staff in blue polo shirts. One of these two, an attractive brunette, was stacking DVDs on the shelves, the other, who looked like a housewife, was sitting behind the counter.

Jon went straight of to the kung fu section and I wandered through the aisles slowly in the direction of the brunette. As I got closer I could see her better. Probably a student I thought, because she was young and had a slight alternative look. I could see the side of her face and noticed that her make up was quite dark. I looked at her hand as she reached up to place a DVD on the shelf and noticed her finger nails were dark blue. She looked fun and lively somehow, even here while at work.

So obviously, I wanted to talk to her.

I started looking at the DVDs near her but I was thinking about Pete. Pete just went for it. He did things. He'd always been like that. He always did things and always had stories to tell. When he started chatting up the girl in the bar. He made it happen.

I started thinking about what to say to her.

After a while I decided the best bet would be to pick a film and ask her if she'd seen it and if she thought it was any good. A bit strange perhaps, but with a bit of charm it could really open up a conversation.

I spent a few minutes finding the right film. It had to be something quite cool obviously. No rom-com or action flick. A French film might be a bit to pretentious, and besides there were only two, and they looked boring. I hesitated over a cult horror movie from the seventies, but then to admit to never having seen it wasn't very cool either. In the end I found a new release that looked fairly credible and made my way over to her.

She had moved further down and was using a step to load some DVDs on to the top shelf. I noticed that her Blockbuster polo shirt hung over quite a tight skirt and she had a small tattoo of a shooting star on her ankle. I suddenly felt more nervous. I walked slowly towards her but started looking back through the shelves as if I was still searching for a film. I got closer, but by then fixing my gaze on the rows of DVDs and not daring to even look at her. I knew it would never happen now. I'd lost the nerve.

I held on for a moment, keeping close to her. I hoped she might notice me. I hoped that she might say something. She didn't.

I walked back over to Jon defeated and gave him my choice of DVD.

'Looks a bit shit that mate' he said and handed it back. In the meantime he'd selected two martial arts films and suggested we hit the road.

-

It was ok back at the house, on the sofa. We'd bought a big bag of crisps and a bottle of fanta. Jon rolled up a spliff as soon as we sat down and we put on one of the martial arts films, which wasn't bad actually. They'll be plenty more weekends I said to myself, and of course plenty more adventures to be had.