On Sunday morning I woke up with three hard
rockers on the pull-out divan in the kitchen. I couldn't even make my cup of
morning green tea. (I'm now thinking I should have photographed the little
angels.) I stood there thinking, Why do these things happen to me?? Why me?
A few years ago I got talking to a young Italian guy who played in an AC/DC 'tribute' group. Quite a dude. Being the only Australian in the tiny mountain valley where we spend most of the winter, I was seen as a representative of what AC/DC has passed on to the world. What a joke. I was even serenaded at a concert - if you call having Angry Angus circle you with an electric guitar and go spinning about on the splintery wooden floor - and always seemed to be the only one with a handle on the English (strine) language. What a laugh. AC/DC queen for an instant.
The thing is, I might dress like a skinny rock chick now, but Davide/Angus still doesn't know I was a hardcore Bee Gees fan in those years. AC/DC? Nope. I was such a disco snob.
So this is how it went. On Saturday night I had my disco nap and pulled on my jeans and walked up to the club where the guys were playing. My sons were there - hard Aussie/Veneto drinkers - as were a bunch of twenty-year-olds plus a few drunken goons in ski goggles. Most of my friends had hit the couch at home and didn't turn up. Argh! So I watched the musicians scream and head bash in the smoky air, the sound thumping through my heart, until they sang 'You Shook Me All Night Long' (an old fav) and I decided to bail out.
I spent the rest of the night half awake as people staggered into the apartment and fell into beds. Then my alarm went off and it was time to take Fin to ski training.
That is when I found myself standing there looking at the three sleeping rockers. As I looked at them I thought of my uneasiness on the edge of the young crowd that night. Too old to go clubbing? Maybe that night, that club - yeah. Then I remembered all the alcohol, all the crazy dancing, the hangovers, the naughtiness and dirty deeds of my own clubbing years. I remembered the sweating crowds and the delirium, the swollen feet...
And I felt relief. Hangover-free, I picked up my ski boots and we left the house.
A few years ago I got talking to a young Italian guy who played in an AC/DC 'tribute' group. Quite a dude. Being the only Australian in the tiny mountain valley where we spend most of the winter, I was seen as a representative of what AC/DC has passed on to the world. What a joke. I was even serenaded at a concert - if you call having Angry Angus circle you with an electric guitar and go spinning about on the splintery wooden floor - and always seemed to be the only one with a handle on the English (strine) language. What a laugh. AC/DC queen for an instant.
The thing is, I might dress like a skinny rock chick now, but Davide/Angus still doesn't know I was a hardcore Bee Gees fan in those years. AC/DC? Nope. I was such a disco snob.
So this is how it went. On Saturday night I had my disco nap and pulled on my jeans and walked up to the club where the guys were playing. My sons were there - hard Aussie/Veneto drinkers - as were a bunch of twenty-year-olds plus a few drunken goons in ski goggles. Most of my friends had hit the couch at home and didn't turn up. Argh! So I watched the musicians scream and head bash in the smoky air, the sound thumping through my heart, until they sang 'You Shook Me All Night Long' (an old fav) and I decided to bail out.
I spent the rest of the night half awake as people staggered into the apartment and fell into beds. Then my alarm went off and it was time to take Fin to ski training.
That is when I found myself standing there looking at the three sleeping rockers. As I looked at them I thought of my uneasiness on the edge of the young crowd that night. Too old to go clubbing? Maybe that night, that club - yeah. Then I remembered all the alcohol, all the crazy dancing, the hangovers, the naughtiness and dirty deeds of my own clubbing years. I remembered the sweating crowds and the delirium, the swollen feet...
And I felt relief. Hangover-free, I picked up my ski boots and we left the house.
What a colorful life you lead! Please promise us you'll take pictures next time!
ReplyDeleteI really should have, shouldn't I? I didn't even think of it.
DeleteWell, not really colourful always, but crazy yes. It's all those darned kids. Sometimes it's just unbelievable and I have to run away and play Scarlatti or clean bathrooms..
Great post, Catherine. And I love that - by virtue of your shared nationality - you became the spokesperson for AC/DC. There's something to add to the cv. : )
ReplyDeleteIsn't that crazy? As if I look like a hard rocker... It's not my fault I grew up with the words! But yes will take your tip and add it to my cv (*wince*)
DeleteCat. Reading your post brings back sooo many memories. I can relate to this plus more. And. I smile Lyn
ReplyDeleteOh yes, weren't we keen disco babes? I can remember as a kid, the great importance of the right jeans. And as an adult, all that counted was the music. Gosh I even remember my favourite club in downtown Accra which was very naughty. Dangerous local gin!
DeleteOnly once in my life have I really wanted to go, or enjoyed, clubbing, and that was last year in Vegas for one night, and all I did was dance with my manfriend for a few hours then go home to sleep. I missed the clubbing part of my youth, I think! Couches are so much more comfortable... and less nausea-inducing.
ReplyDeleteI was dragged to local church discos when I was a kid, and I guess this translated into a dance thang when I grew up. Even now I still love a good party and a great dance.
DeleteDon't worry I've also done a lot of flaking out on the couch!
You have more party animal in you now than I did when I was twenty. Also, the Bee Gees were way cool---even though my dad always said they sounded like teenage girls.
ReplyDeleteWell, I also do piano practice and clean bathrooms and dancing doesn't come around every weekend - that wouldn't be any fun. You remember my big summer party? They're already talking about it!
DeleteOh yes the Bee Gees. I saw Saturday Night Fever again a while back and that final shot of John Travolta's cute ass down Broadway.. really had me wondering..
Haha! Local rep for AC/DC! I love it.
ReplyDeleteBut... too old to club?? Never!!
Mind you there have been times when I've had to reflect on my position as a douce old lady and mother of adults. And the shame I've brought upon them - as well as the next-day cringing I've done! - when a night out at my local with 'the girls' ('old ladies' every one! lol!) has led to that walk of shame which leads to the local 'nightclub'... Mostly because after a few drinkies the instinct is to say 'what the hell!' - and to seek out the only remaining source of hard liquor!
I loved the post Cat. There are - unfortunately - times when you feel you're 'trespassing', aren't there? Times when you realise that the young have their own world - one which is largely closed to us now and which we only 'know' through remembrances of our own time as one of 'the young'...
Yes it's all about balance, as is everything to do with parenting. Having our fun, and allowing them to have theirs. It used to be so simple. Tuck them into bed and run away with promises, watch those fluttering eyelids finally give way to sleep. Now all the juggling. Who's going out tonight? And where??
DeleteThe thing is to find the right, age-appropriate occasion and run with it!
Catherine that's just gold!!! Shhhh I was also a Bee Gees fan but only the old stuff, we ended up living in Scarborough just around the corner from their old house LOL. We'd head out at midnight and come in just before starting work the next day....I loved to dance and didn't care where or with whom! Now my ten year old is teaching me her moves and thinks my dancing days are past ....little does she know!!
ReplyDeleteciao lisa x
Oh Lisa! You were a Bee Gee neighbour! You've just redefined yourself in the grooviest terms. I lay down my hat. And jive!! Xcat
DeleteWhat an interesting post. I was also a Bee Gees fan, and I still get gushy when I hear the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Amazing how music can flood our senses with such visceral images. But I also remember some pretty crazy dancing to 'You Shook Me All Night Long' too...I guess I had many sides back then haha..
ReplyDeleteI liked how y.s.s. put it. The thing about our age is that we can feel like observers when we're in certain situations. The young do seem to exist in a world that feels more distant and yes, closed to us. At least that's my perspective now that I'm around my twenty year old son and his friends. And the hard drinking and hangovers? God I'm so glad that belongs to another era. :)
Leslie (Gwen Moss)
Oh yes I'm with you both on that. I stand back, I hardly even observe, I close that door. I don't really want anything to do with the way they socialise and in fact my summer party used to be big people and kids, now it's loads of wild young adults and more tepid 40 pluses. We need to redress that imbalance!
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