So how did 2009 start for you? Did you head off to bed at 1am with your pipe and slippers? Well if you are living life in the slow lane these days, the rest of this post is not for you. I pick up the story, a few minutes into this new year. Pav said we would stick around for an hour or so before heading over to Plug n Play. He played a few songs on the decks at York Road as a warm up before Poole wanted to have another go. We left around 1am, but said we would pop back when the club closed.

I did not realise how close Plug n Play was to Foxy’s house. It was difficult to judge because the club is in the middle of an industrial park. York Road is quite a long residential street in a residential area, but you walk up the road, take a left and then a right and the houses disappear and are replaced by big industrial units. In the end we did not need directions from Poole, we just followed the other people heading in that direction. In fact someone that was speaking to Emily as we walked down (she was a few yards behind us) actually knew Pav and had been looking after the night the last time Pav played there over five years ago.

We got to the entrance and I had to check my name off and show my e-ticket to be give. I was also given a ‘Love’ stamp so I could come and go as I pleased over the night. In the end, I did not leave the premises until the place closed at 4am. It was around 1.30am by the time we got there and Sam was on the decks. I prefered her set but was looking forward to Tina Martin who was playing just before Pav! Her set was not as good as the launch night but still was good enough to dance to. Then at the stroke of 3am, Pav came on and the dancefloor was packed. However, as I was dancing with Emily I noticed she did not look too bright. She was drifting and after I asked she was okay, she said she was heading over to Foxy’s. She told Pav and Melanie and disappeared into the early hours of the first morning of 2009. It had not got to 3.30am yet.

Something stranged happened at the half way point, a big crowd of people just disappeared. It was like an instant change, on minute there were loads of people on the dancefloor, then next there were mostly gone. I kept up the stamina from somewhere and was there dancing at the infront of the DJ booth with Mel. I could not believe I lasted up until 4am. However way before the closing time of the set, the main lights came on outside, which ruined the atmosphere rather a great deal. However, Pav being the professional that he is, kept the show on the road for as long as he could. The licence has a strict closing time of 4am. So the manager came over twice to tell Pav to cut the music. He explained that this was the last song and it had a few more minutes to run. He ended on the chill out classic – Cafe Del Mar by Energy 52, the Out Of Office Remix with a running time of 7:42. And so the show was over, we headed back to the house to find the party was well and truly over.

Everyone was in the lounge watching The Office: An American Workplace on ITV2. Alan and Ben were asleep but looked rather uncomfortable on the chairs. Meanwhile, Foxy, Geoff and the others were all on the lounge with Mel lying on Foxy (she had left the club a few mintues before me, while I had waited for Pav). Foxy then trolled through the hard drive of the Sky+ box and decided to watch The Mighty Boosh. This lasted a few minutes before The Office came back on. Meanwhile, Emily had crashed out on Foxy’s bed upstairs and the t_dogg was now in the need of sleep, so requested Pav remove her from his sleeping quarters. This was much easier said than done. Pav ordered a taxi while we got together and Emily finally came downstairs. I remember checking the time on the Sky EPG as I left (they were still channel hopping and deciding what to watch). It was 4:25am, I was actually not that tired, not hungry and actually up for a bit more of a party. We got back to Pav’s place around 4:45am and I had to sent a tweet from my phone while Pav auto-inflated the airbed. I was in the basement lair for the first time. It was tempting to jump on the computer and update both my Facebook and Twitter statuses. Mel was sleeping in the spare room, which I would normally take. It was coming up to 5am as I finally fell to sleep. Oh what a night!

Late that morning I got up at 11am on the dot. I found myself half sunk in the mattress as it had deinflated during the night. Thankfully not fully, so I was not asleep on a sheet on the floor. It was a strange experience though, having to crawl out to grab my mobile, switch it on and then fall back into the airbed. I eventually got up, packed it away, got ready and then started on something very important. I had to start writing the blog notes. I took a seat on the comfy chair, grabbed some blank sheets of A4. There was an open pad on the decks, I am sure Pav does not mind. I then had a little stool to lean on as I made my notes. These notes had to capture, not just the events of New Year’s Eve but also the big gap between Christmas. Before now, my blog had not been updated since Christmas Eve. I had a lot to write about. I began by writing actual sentences (which would appear on the blog) but as I got to the fourth side, I had to switch to note form, just as time was running out. Melanie left and wished me well for my ski holiday around 11.45am and then Pav came down to cook some breakfast. Meanwhile I sat on the dining table and completed my notes. After breakfast we went downstairs to the basement and Pav burnt me a DVD with goodies. The first two series of the IT Crowd plus American Dad. We then headed to town to see The Spirit at the Vue. Poole had been ill since she got up and was in a bad way. She even remarked to me, “Why aren’t you ill Teg?” Because I controlled myself love! Her final words to me were, “Enjoy your rubbish movie!”.

Yes, it was a bit cheesy but enjoyable and entertaining. Not as good as Sin City but with Eva Mendes and Samuel L. Jackson, it had enough to keep me going. It was shot similar to Sin City but was noway near as gruesome. The character was great and reminded me of The Shadow a little. I feel the story could be have been better but perhaps it was about establishing the character rather than anything else.

It was 5pm by the time I got home and I came to the realisation that tomorrow I was back at work. Just a shame I had no hot water.