Chapter One
So, there I was sitting in my middle class living room, in my middle class life being bored as hell. I always thought the phrase bored to tears was just a euphemism, but oh no β I was genuinely struggling to fight back tears of pure unadulterated boredom.
Don't get me wrong, usually I was pretty happy with my life. I enjoyed my job, my boyfriend was a genuinely caring nice guy, we had good friends to go out with, and money wasn't so tight that we couldn't treat ourselves every now and again and have some good holidays. All in all Pete & I had it pretty good, and there in lies the problem β Pete was away on business and wouldn't be back for at least 4 or 5 days& I was bored!.
I know what you're thinking β middle class woman lost without her man, but you're wrong. I had friends I could call, people I could see, pubs I could go to, but I wasn't interested in any of it. It all seemed just as boring as staying at home in front of the TV; it all seemed too NORMAL!
I was desperate to do something daring, flamboyant, extreme or exotic but it was all so far away from my normal life I had no idea where to start. I wanted to greet Pete on his return with "you'll never guess what I've spent the last few days doing", & the fact that I couldn't even think where to start was the most depressing of all.
I thought about my friends and who I could turn to for inspiration, but they're all in the same rut as me and I couldn't think of a single likely candidate or potential ally in a wild venture. I thought of the people I work with but they're mostly really nice people with families who gave up wild some years ago when they decided to 'settle down' to a normal life. The only one who offered any hope was a new girl called Cally who'd started a few weeks ago. She always seemed to have great stories of how she'd spent her weekends and never seemed to have a dull moment but I didn't have her number and besides, I'd only chatted to her a few times & wouldn't have felt comfortable calling her out of the blue. You see, I really am just a plain Jane usually and she's such a free spirit, I could imagine her laughing at the very idea of me wanting to join in with her shenanigans.
The next day at work was a Friday which is always my busiest day and the morning whizzed by without me having time to think about anything other than work. It was a bank holiday weekend so I was even busier than usual. At lunchtime I stopped and popped into a local cafΓ© for a sandwich and a coffee. My food had just arrived & I was engrossed in the crossword when I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Cally standing there. "I'm sorry Cat, I didn't mean to disturb you but I was wondering if I could share your table" she asked very tentatively. My god am I really so scary?
I looked around β the cafΓ© had filled up since I came in and there were only a few seats left. "of course you can, don't sound so worried, I don't bite" I replied with my biggest, friendliest smile.
"I wasn't worried; I just assumed that you'd be waiting for someone to join you. It didn't occur to me that someone like you would be eating alone".
"Someone like me?" I almost snorted coffee down my nose. "You make me sound vaguely interesting!" I laughed. "It's funny, I was just sitting and thinking last night how I'd like to be more like you. You seem to have such exciting weekends and my life is beginning to seem a little dull right now. I have a whole weekend to fill and I'm struggling for ideas that don't seem mundane. In fact the only thing I've come up with to fill part of 3 days is a trip to Stonehenge"
"What a fab idea, I wish I'd thought of doing something like that"
"Surely you've got a whole weekend full of wonderful things planned" I replied in surprise, "you always have packed weekends with friends in clubs & you're such a lively outgoing person you must have masses of friends to keep you busy?"
"Actually I'm in a bit of a rut myself. I spend most of my time with the same friends in the same club. I have a bit of an alternative lifestyle so it kind of suits me to spend my time with like minded people but it does get kind of dull & repetitive after a while"
As she was saying this I noticed that her normally bright and shining green eyes lost some of their usual sparkle and she suddenly seemed so sad.
"Hey what's up?" oh god, it seemed I'd upset her somehow but I didn't know why.
"Sorry" She sniffed "I've just split up with my partner and I'm not finding it easy to adjust".
"So why don't you join me tomorrow? We could make a day of it and take a picnic; the weather's supposed to be great"
"I couldn't impose on your weekend; I'd feel like a spare wheel with you and your fella"
I laughed at the thought that she felt she would be putting me out when I'd be glad of the company β or was she just politely saying that she didn't want to spend the day with me regardless of how bad she was feeling?
I took the plunge and risked the rejection I felt sure was on its way. "My fella's away on business for the whole weekend so I'm going alone. I'd really appreciate the company. It wouldn't be the same without someone to share it with & I'm determined not to spend the weekend doing the same old things!"
"In that case I'd love to come!" she beamed "I haven't been to the Henge since I was a kid & it's about time I went again" Was this part of her 'alternative lifestyle' I wondered. I thought of her long sinewy frame, elfin features and close cropped hair and suddenly had visions of her in a druid's cloak & I had to stifle a giggle.