Days gone by

Drink with me to days gone by

Drink with me 

I slept the whole flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Seattle. It was only when the wheels hit the runway that I was jolted awake. It wasn’t a good sleep though and I didn’t feel refreshed. I was on the verge of vowing never to go out drinking the night before an early flight again but I had enjoyed the last night out in Arlington so much that I figured it would be a vow quickly broken. As I got off the plane I sent a message to my next hosts, Sam & Danny to let them know that I had landed in Seattle. Sam had been at college with Preston, one of my New Orleans gays. He had sent an email to Sam, copied to me, explaining my travels and telling Sam that I was “super sweet, not an ax murderer, and has a very fun accent”. A couple of days had gone by with no response so I thought I would try breaking the silence with some humour. I sent a reply to Preston, copied to Sam, saying “in pointing out my fun accent you failed to mention how good looking, charming, intelligent, witty and modest I am.” I had added a smiley face denote a humorous tone. Sam had fallen for it and I was duly sorted with a host for Seattle.

Having collected my luggage I found the transit system and made my way to downtown Seattle. I met up with Sam & Danny and we headed to their car. They asked me if there was anything specific I wanted to do while I was in Seattle. I said my list only had two things on it at the moment – (1) coffee and (2) the Space Needle and that there was no point doing (2) until I had done (1). We went for coffee. They took me to a great little place near theirs called the Volunteer Park Café, which as the name suggests is a café near Volunteer Park. Over coffee I got to study my next hosts a little. They made a really cute couple. They shared a cookie (not evenly though) and would finish each other’s sentences. After we finished our coffees we headed back to their place, I was given a tour, introduced to Madge the dog and dropped off my suitcase so we could head off for a little tour of Seattle.

Our first stop was a farmers’ market in Ballard. We had a nice walk round, Sam & Danny picked up a few groceries for the week. Sam bumped into a couple of girlfriends while we were walking round. They all said hello each other, I stood to one side. Sam turned to his friends and said “This is my friend Chris, he is here visiting from Australia for a few days”. I hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether I should go along with it and pretend to be Australian or say I was actually English. I wasn’t sure I could pull off the Australian accent so I went with the second option. Luckily Sam didn’t seem too bothered by me correcting him. The incident did get me thinking though. I had had a lot of practice now of staying with people I didn’t necessarily know, where we only had a friend in common. I was at a point where it was becoming comfortable for me, if not necessarily easy. For each new host though it was their first time. I wondered how they explained my staying to their friends, or if indeed they did explain it to their friends. I would have to find out but decided I should wait until I knew my hosts a little better before asking.

From the market we took in the Fremont Troll which lives under a bridge, as trolls are inclined to do, went to Pike Place to see the original Starbucks Coffee shop and the fish market where the workers throw the fish around for the enjoyment of the tourists. It being a Sunday afternoon we also stopped for a cocktail in a place overlooking the water. I asked Sam if he would be catching up with Preston any time soon. Sam & Danny told me that they would be heading to NOLA for Halloween. Having spent nearly a week in NOLA when there were no holidays going on and seeing how crazy it got I guessed that Halloween would be mental. I think the locals would call it a hot mess.

Sam & Danny had plans for the early evening so I used the time I was alone to have a wander around Capitol Hill, the local gaybourhood. I grabbed myself some dinner and then met back up with Sam & Danny to go for a drink. We headed to the Sun Liquor Distillery for a couple of cocktails. A friend of theirs was there waiting. I was introduced to him, not as an Australian this time. We were barely in to the first cocktail when the conversation turned to mutual friends and the latest gossip. I didn’t know any of the people who were being talked about I sat back enjoying the stories that were being revealed. Seattle was a hotbed of sordid goings-on. It made me miss the gossip from back home. The evening flew by and was good fun, made even better by me getting a free cocktail on account of my “cute accent”.

Sam and Danny both had to work the next morning so we were all up fairly early. The guys made me a coffee and then gave me some suggestions of things to do during the day. I had lucked out with the weather and there was not a cloud in the sky when I set off for a walk up to Volunteer Park. I had been told that the views from the park, and in particular the top of the water tower there, were spectacular. It was quite a walk up the hill to the park and I was a little out of breath by the time I stopped to take in the view. I got my camera out of my bag to take some photos of the view of downtown Seattle. I turned the camera on and nothing happened. I turned it off and back on again. Still nothing. I opened up the compartment for the battery – it was empty. The battery was still on the charger back at the house. I cursed myself and walked back down the hill, got the battery and walked back up. I figured that the exercise would do me good. Or kill me.

Days gone by

Having got some photos from the top of the water tower I walked downtown using the Space Needle as a guide. I had been to Seattle once before, for a couple of days as part of a family holiday back when I was 13. I had vague memories of the place, the clearest one being when we went up the Space Needle. As we got to the top of the Needle we headed outside onto the observation deck. As we did so a huge gust of wind hit us. Mother ended up with her dress up around her head, exposing her underwear to anyone who cared to look. I am sure Mother won’t mind me saying but back in those days she was a little more frumpy and on the larger side so it wasn’t like Marilyn Monroe white dress/vent image you might be picturing. It was more like Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. Anyway, the view from the top was great given the clear skies. I didn’t get Dean out for a photo as it was a little windy and I didn’t want to lose him. After walking round downtown getting a few photos I headed back to Sam & Danny’s so we could all go out for dinner. I was tempted to get a taxi as the return journey was all uphill but in the end I walked, reasoning that the exercise would allow me to have a guilt free G&T or two later on.

“Drink with me to days gone by” 
Lyrics from Drink with me from the musical Les Miserables