Drinking Buddies

I'd forgotten what it was like to sit and have a drink and chew the fat with somebody you don't know, and make a connection. 

COVID has killed a lot of old rituals, one of those being Friday night office drinks. 

Over COVID, my team has been very proactive about Friday night drinks. At 4 pm most Friday afternoons, at home, we'd grab a drink of something and have a debrief and a chat about everything and anything for an hour. As writer's we're all into books, movies, television, current affairs, history - you name it, we talk about it. It's bonded the team over the months of lockdown. 

Since we've been back in the office, we've continued with our tradition, though it is a little more clandestine. A traveller bottle of siphoned gin in brought in, along with a bottle of tonic. A tray of ice cubes waits in the little kitchen freezer, and a bottle of wine is normally found somewhere on the floor. We're not secretive about this, but we're not out there either.  

A quiet drink on the shop floor is accepted practice. Well it was before COVID. The beer and wine fridge used to be fully stocked, but we've had a recent change in management and we're still testing the waters. Still, on Friday nights, in a COVID-Normal Melbourne, most people have left the office by 4 pm and one gin and tonic is not going to kill anybody.

Last night, due to my colleague and partner-in-crime being away at a funeral, I was looking for another drinking body. 

I found one. In the form of the Program Manager. 

The gin: Ink Gin

The tonic: Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic

The conversation: Amazing

It's been ages since I've sat down and really talked to somebody that I don't really know. Of course, I've had a bit to do with this man, but he's up in the echelons and I'm a lowly bottom-of-the-food-chain tech writer. 

But we found a lot of common ground. We're both travellers - off the grid, away from the throng sorts of travellers. We revel in travelling alone and the opportunities that provides.We're also both gin snobs - actually more like good alcohol snobs. He's put me on to whisky and ginger beer  - and he's volunteered to become a part of the clandestine gin and tonic club on Friday afternoons. He's lovely, and interesting and has sort of restored a little bit of faith in the male race.

But at 6 pm, a lot later than I thought it was, we left the office. I could have talked into the into the night.

But I'd forgotten what it was to find a new drinking buddy. And it's made me happy.

Today's Song: