Happy new yeah
New year, new me! We’ve heard it all before right? But what if it’s in lights?
Now, let me explain. We have a cinema light in our living room. It’s a box that mimics how the old cinemas listings used to be shown; with letters you can slide in to make up the words. What started life as a Christmas gift (cheers Annie) instantly became part of our everyday; illuminating our lounge with random messages.
The box has bought much joy. From welcoming guests to highlighting headlines; whatever’s in there is usually worth noting! The only downside being it only comes with so many letters, so you occasionally need to get creative with the spelling or characters. Like if you’re short of an ’S’, then a ‘5’ can come in handy; or a ‘3’ can easily be flipped to be become an ‘E’… you get the idea!
After a few challenging months, I’d finally landed myself a new permanent job, and with festive plans coming in left, right and centre; things were on the up. Cue… the box!
No no, no no no no, no no no no, no no… there’s no limit
Hand’s up… who else is guilty for leaving their phone on silent? With mine forever on mute; the absence of sound is bliss, but it also means I miss the occasional call. When life gets in the way, it’s maybe a little easy to forget to phone back. With three or four missed that day, I felt a little guilty!
It’s then I decided I should start trying to make a little more effort. Not just for calls, but for everything. Not dismissing things from the off… and so went up on the board those four little words: YEAH GO ON THEN.
Ready for take off - Fresh off the box going live, my first YGOT happens not soon after. A WhatsApp reads ‘Fancy a room 2 gig at Concorde 2’?. Blimey I thought, I’ve not seen one of these for a while! An unexpected but welcome invite to dust off the cans and play a little set at the famous seafront club. As some anxiety dipped butterflies enter my stomach, I hit them with some bug-spray and quickly accept; buzzing with something to look forward to!
Just sea yes - The next YGOT bites me on the ass about a week later. As we conjure up plans for the festive period, I stupidly suggest to our parents, that we should go for a ‘traditional’ Christmas morning dip in the sea (I mean we’ve lived here long enough). The morning arrives. “Are we still dipping?” - YGOT! We make it happen, driving down to the seafront, tip-toeing over the pebbles as we jump in the ice-cold water. Both exhilarating and piercing, it took some real Christmas baubles to get in that sea!
It’s about time - As the festivities pass and our parents head home, we decide to stroll into town. We spot an offer outside a little bar we always notice, but always end up walking past… “Oh look, they’ve got an offer on mulled wine… fancy it!?”
YGOT strikes again. We enter The Yellow Book; a quirky looking bar always filled with characters. We eagerly tell the barman how we’ve been meaning to check this place out ever since living in Brighton. He explains how we’re inside Britain’s first steampunk bar. I nod enthusiastically, giving off the impression I have a clue what he’s talking about. He bids us good day as we leave, mulled wines in hand; we later read the bar is run by two adventurers trying to raise enough money to fix their time machine to get back to the 19th century… gotta love Brighton!
Runways and run-yays
That same morning, three YGOT’s become four! As we delve into the laines, our mission is to grab some clobber for a friend’s 90’s themed NYE party. 10 mins later we’re foraging through questionable relics of 90s fashion eleganza! A ski jacket lures me in. It’s so bad its good. I try it on. Damn it fits. My missus smirks in the outrageousness of it all. “Are you gonna get it?” I reluctantly nod, releasing another, slightly grimaced YGOT. I think she’s catching on…
Four quickly becomes five… what is going on! For the same NYE party, they’ve asked if I fancy bringing some tunes. Ignoring all those stupid butterflies, the YGOT jumps out my mouth… this is getting easy!
Reporting back findings
The party was brilliant, with the rest of the month flying by, and man has it been… eventful. One that without that little reminder, would have meant I’d be a pair of pink Nikes lighter; never been aching for a week after going on an assault course; not taking up new opportunities at work; definitely not gaining about 3lbs as a result of eating my own weight in meat at a long overdue #matenight; likely not becoming 90% Tuaca dressed as Wayne’s World; maybe not buying tickets for a drag show on a whim; oh and probably not having a 10,000ft tandem skydive to start planning for!
So am I taking this new mantra into the new year? You can probably guess my answer…!
WriteHereWriteNow is my freelance writing adventure. Personal blog aside, I’m available for all types of content requirements. Please feel free to get in touch, cheers!