Random Journal Entry #1: The Violent Birthday Remembrance

Hey all! Just found a whole bunch of notebooks from my time in Sydney in 1998/99, as well as early days in Perth from 2002 to 2004 before this blog kicked off. Quite fascinating, in that horrendously nostalgic way, to read some of the stuff that I'd jotted down... so just for the fun of it, I shall kick off a series of Random Journal Entries! (With any luck it'll be more consistently blogged than those freakin' Nick-Knacks I've always been meaning to continue with... oy. Anyway!)

PERTH, 2 May 2003. Wednesday nite we journeyed to Freo for Jo's b'day... went to Sandrino's Cafe and had quite LOT to eat ... soup, risotto (that tasted like it was from out of a packet but was yummy nonetheless), cake, coffee, beer. ARGH. A lot of people were there: Shaun, Judi, Berni, Jo (duh!), Beatty, Chris and Jade. Okay, not a 'lot', but still.

So all was pretty jovial... at one point Josie (oooh! Josie was there!) wanted to withdraw cash and so she and Shaun got up to leave; only the truth was that they were planning on getting a cake for Jo, but then JO stood up and said she'd go along too! So THAT ruined the plan somewot! Josie had to dart back and tell Jade and me to grab a cake at Ms Maud's... only there WASN'T a Ms Maud's down the strip ... so we ended up asking a random restaurant if they sold cakes (they did) and this Chinese-caucasian dude named Ben served us. Yeah, so that was good, the dinner, no matter how friggin' stuffed we got. FRIGGIN STUFFED.

So. Afterwards we all planned to head to the beach and Beattie and I decided to walk to her car, which was parked in a darkish alley road. This is where the story takes a sinister turn. As we approached her car, a gang of 4 or 5 appeared RIGHT in FRONT of her vehicle and started to pound this dude, kicking him and crap. B & I stop and decide, okay, back away, not a good time. We walk away, but when we turn back the gang has gone, so we head to the car, and lying in front of it, prostrate and fetal, is the bashed victim, there's all blood and stuff all over.

So B & I just stare numbly (in restrospect NOT our finest moment) and then these couple of guys (who, incidentally and irrelevantly, were gay) appeared, and one of them tries to help the dude, who, incidentally, was conscious now and crying and shit. The Good Samaritan dude asked us if we had a mobile to call for help. Beattie did, and so she dialled some number or other and listened but nothing happened. So she and I headed to this pub on the corner intending to find help. By pure coincidence there was this cop car on the corner, and Beattie yells something about a guy being bashed up, and the cop looks at us like, wotthephuck?? and says inanely, "Wot, NOW?" And I thought, "No, an HOUR from now, DUMBarse!" but figured I'd be in trouble for that. Beattie said, "Yes now" and the cop car screeches round the corner beating the red light and we just remained there thinking "wot now?" So we called Shaun to pick us up, and he did, but neither Beattie nor I were in a really good mood anymore.

...Meanwhile, yesterday Beattie discovered a wide smattering of blood on her car bonnet. Sheesh. Wot a mess. There y'go.