Well, I can honestly say that I'm glad that I made the effort to make it to the reunion. The whole evening was a glut of emotion - nostalgia, deja vu, a little apprehension, relief and surprise amongst other emotions I can't name right now. Me and the boyfriend were late getting to MR and Andy's (predictably, I left the house without the tickets so we had to go back for them). Along the way, names and faces of people I went to school with flashed through my mind, so I barely heard what the bf was chatting about. We got to MR and Andy's, picked them up and drove the short distance to the function - at this point, I realised I was going to be stone-cold sober at the school reunion...good idea or not?
We were the first ones to arrive....
We were greeted by a bearded Roger P who looked great and was charming. Bear in mind I have not seen him for 19 years - he quipped, "Hey, did you do stunt work for Charlie's Angels?", which was a nice compliment I guess! :)
Emma C who had organised the whole shebang was next to greet us - she's not changed much, put on some weight but was nice and pleasant.
The whole thing started to seem a bit surreal...
The bf and Andy downed their first pints in a only a few mins... perhaps should have seen the signs then, but I was too caught up to really notice at the time.
This was how it carried on for the rest of the night - some people came up to me to greet me, others I went up to greet and got some cool reactions. Some were vague about what they were/weren't doing workwise; others were very interested in what I'd been up to and others just said hello.Some ignored me but I wasn't bothered.
Andy N joined us at our table - he's not changed at all (smaller hair!) and was still very friendly and nice. There was some noticeable absentees though; people who still lived locally but didn't bother to turn up. Some people had travelled up from London and Bournmouth to name a few places.
Funny how everyone in that room was the same age as me, yet some looked about 10 years older! Some hadn't changed at all, some looked great, others looked terrible! Most people were married with children - Rachel F's daughter is now 20! :O but I wasn't the only one who was single with no kids. Couple of the idiots from school are still idiots in adult life (eg, Nigel E trying to tie balloons to his knob).
MR single-handedly won the pop quiz and we danced to some classic 80's tracks, including Yazz & the Plastic Population's 'The Only Way Is Up' , The Communards' 'Don't Leave Me This Way' and Dexy's Midnight Runners' 'Come On Eileen' to name a few.
I decided halfway through the night (seeing as I was sober) to act as unofficial photographer, so I went around snapping groups of people. This also gave me a great opportunity to ask people their names as I noted them on a pad... Got a lot of stick for this as people said, "Hey I remember you as a swot and being clever and stuff!" Good job they also remember me as being very sporty and I'm glad to say, I wore tight-fitting clothes that showed off the fact that I keep in trim! ;)
All in all, a good evening, well organised and I went up to Emma C and thanked her, congratulating her on doing a good job. She was surprised at this but pleasantly so, I think.
The night passed quickly and then it was time to leave. No one else was making a move but as we had a long drive back, we said some goodbyes to certain people. I went into the ladies and as I was coming out, heard screaming and shouting...recognised MR's voice...Came out to see the bf and Andy involved in a scuffle with some other guys....
Tracey L was manhandling the bf, to stop him from hitting her scrote of a husband, who (the bf revealed later) had been eyeballing Andy all night to start trouble. The guy had made some comment to Andy as he was leaving and went to throw a punch at him; the bf was in the way and the bf ended up punching him.
OMIGOD, MY BOYFRIEND PUNCHED SOMEONE AT MY SCHOOL REUNION!
MR was screaming for them to all stop and in the end, the scrotes were ejected from the building. A few mins later, we went to my car; MR was still having a go at Andy but I tried to calm her down, saying nothing had really happened and just leave it at that. In the back of my car (god knows how six-footers like the bf and Andy managed to squeeze in there!!) were giggling like naughty schoolboys!
We stopped off at theirs for a bit to say hi/bye to MR's mum who had been babysitting and then went on our way.
The bf, a bit drunk, whispered loudly that the fracas was "fun" - hmmm...guess Andy would be in for a major earbashing during the night!
It was 2.30am by the time we got home, although it only took us an hour to drive back. Went to sleep with a smile on my face - having seen the people I went to school with, I think I've done good (mostly!) and life has treated me well!
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