Project 289 - Day 47 (Sunday 3 May 2009) : Happy Birthday Justin!!! Happy Birthday To You!!

Happy Birthday Justin!

Well actually his birthday was on the following Tuesday, but given my employer's strange reluctance to allow me the morning, and indeed, the day off, for a leisurely brunch-like graze at my favourite local cafe - South End, on King Street - we had to settle for a brunch on the Sunday before. But what a fine brunch it was! The service was as ever impeccable and friendly, our fellow brunchers - there is no such word, I know, and yes it does make them sound like a piece of outdoor furniture - were a gay couple with lots of personality (and great camera skills - they are responsible for the fabulous lighting in the photos above and below), and the food(yummy pea and haloumi pancakes!), and company were wonderful.

Justin is a wonderful friend I made a few years back when I accidentally started up a gay movie group who would go to a Hollywood blockbuster, or Arthouse movie, every Tuesday night, and socialise over dinner afterwards. The group, a victim of changing group dynamics, and time, is no more, but my friendship with Justin, who is one of the calmest, sweetest, most intelligent friends a guy could have, has endured, and I couldn't let his birthday pass without doing something even moderately fun and enjoyable.

The other major event today centred on a growing friendship, courtesy of my bf (in the photo below), with my bf's best friend, Brett. He too, is a thoroughly lovely guy who is yet more evidence that my bf is only friends with really wonderful people. One of my 'fears' with meeting his friends, especially his bestie, was that they may not like me, or I may not like them, but in fact, I have enjoyed meeting them, and getting t know them, and that would apply to Brett most of all.

Which is why in a manically busy weekend, we took some time out to have a coffee on Oxford Street with Brett (pictured with the bf below) and the attend the LeatherPride Week Fair Day, which contrary to expectations was not held in a field somewhere, but in the Midnight Shift, a gay nightclub right in the heart of the gay Strip. It was an odd event, with an anti-climactic vibe permeating proceedings, and everyone clinging to the walls, drinks in heart, leather on body and sticking with the people with whom they'd arrived. Not that much different to most social events to some extent, but not what I expected of a bunch of fun-loving, leather-wearing bears, and so after one drink, we left the Shift, said our goodbyes, and headed home, re-thinking the idea that the leather scene was something we wanted to embrace anytime soon. The one thing that saved the afternoon was spending time with good friends, people who will save just about any event no matter how dire, and I am very glad I can add Brett to that illustrious group.