I don’t have many good friends still around. They all moved away from Canberra to warmer and more exciting places. I generally ride on my own, I don’t go and hang out with people on the weekends. My main group of mates started getting into drugs so I distanced myself away from them so I wouldn’t get caught up in it all.
It actually makes me feel a little envious when I see really close knit groups of mates who always catch up. I have a lot of acquaintances though, through riding and through hockey but I don’t know them well enough to just go and hang out and vent to them if I felt like it.
One thing I really enjoyed and will always have good memories of is was when I rolled down to melbs and met a lot of you guys. All of you were really genuine, and exactly the type of people you come across on here. To be honest it has made me think of moving down there.
i should mention k o specifically, she seriously rules hard. we often question why we’re even mates coz we disagree so often, but i don’t think it matters why we are, we are.
After having a lil bit of a party on the weekend it was interesting to see who pleasantly surprised me and those who bitterly disappointed me. A lot of A Grade new chums made my night, unlike a lot of my old, grumpy friends I’ve had for years and years, who didn’t even make the effort to come.
Not to mentioned a rather awesome friend texting me in the morning offering to come help clean the house. Who does that?
Yeah, I’m pretty lucky. But friends are incredibly important to someone who has very little connection with their family. I would do anything for my friends, yet I am still warmly surprised when they do anything for me.
I am known to share the odd bottle of homebrew around from time to time. I really enjoy doing it, and it is my number one hobby besides cycling. I never expect any kind of payment for service as I just enjoy being able to share my craft with people who enjoy it. Many a good and meaningful chat has been had over an open bottle as well. To my surprise my friends all chipped in to buy me a beer fridge for my 30th Birthday, and some lovely folk on here have helped me decorate it with rad stickers. Now when I pull a beer I’m reminded of the awesome friends I have in Brisbane and how hard it would be to ever move back to Melbourne and leave them behind.
Once, when things were really tough and I was broke and living on a mates couch, another mate and his girlfriend invited me around for dinner and stuffed me with enough food to last a week. I’ve never forgotten that, even after I moved away and we lost touch. I guess that’s what I/we/you do when mates need a hand.
On the other hand, I’ve been surprisingly let down at some really, shitty times by ‘best friends’ as well.