I'm making good friends with you.

So Jessie Mo organised dinner with a few of our friends for the Saturday evening I was in Canberra. There were seven of us there: Nick, Jessie Mo's twin sister Hydro Flo (good name, Nick), The Enigma, LiT* and Sarah Ulmer, who has moved back there after her all-too brief stint in Perth.

We dined at the Mecca Bah and a gay old time was had by all. There was a lot of yelling and screaming but it was all in jest, and also the only way you could be heard above the din. The Enigma neither yelled nor screamed. He preferred to behave more....enigmatically.

Because we're such a bunch of crazy funsters we spent a good part of the evening coming up with words that contain "pan". Hydro Flo and her boyfriend started this game, and they've pretty much unearthed the lot, but we still managed to think of a few: frangipani, sampan, timpani, chimpanzee. Apparently a truce was called but I didn't hear it and after a few minutes of normal conversation I leaned over and said to Hydro Flo, "I don't suppose you've already got pantry?" As it turned out, they hadn't. There was much rejoicing at the table. Except from Nick. He looked wounded and betrayed (as only he can). Then he spent the rest of the evening muttering to himself.

At one point the conversation lagged for a while and we listened to some exceptionally stylish youths next to us vigorously exchanging ideas about the merits of oral love. One courteous gentleman shared with his companions a story about hooking up with a slapper with no teeth. His description of the encounter left his dining fellows hooting with appreciation.

"Well," said Hydro Flo as we sat there digesting the tale ourselves, "at least the geriatrics now have something to be happy about."



*Lost in Translation. For those who know her.