Sarah's old neighborhood

After a few glasses of wine and a puff of the magic dragon, in my early 20’s, my friend Sarah and I decided to drive my car, affectionately called ‘The Bus’ up to her old neighbourhood in the snow so she could reminisce about her childhood. After that we decided to go to the local club to which I had to parallel park. I ended up parking with the driver’s side tires on the curb.

Fast forward ten years later and I am on a ship with a few glasses of wine minus the magic dragon without my friend Sarah stumbling up the stairs at 3am with the spa and gift shop managers Mia and Juzzy after a long day in Croatia. We had spent 10 hours visiting the old city of Dubrovnik and had our breath taken away when we entered the gates that led us to the walled in city. The perfect marriage of old and new world, you could almost taste the history in the air. Being in Europe has made me realize how very small the world is and how very young my country of Canada is. We have no castles or Cathedrals that even can match the sheer grandeur of the ones in Europe.

So it is up to the individuals such as Sarah and me to visit the neighbourhoods that are old to us, steeped in childhood memories rather than in age and world history. I tried explaining this to Mia and Juzzy, who have become good friends here on the ship; however it was lost on them completely. I don’t blame them, as much as the third bottle of Vino we had on the bow of the ship.

We would have opened a fourth; however, we were running late for a Crew party with a Venetian mask theme. Ugh. I hate themed parties and knowing I didn’t have a mask, Juzzy decided to give me one from the shops on board witch was silver with bright blue glitter and tall feathers to match. Could I look any more gay?

Of course crew parties are going to be made up of the same old scene. There will be no Italian music as advertised because the Philippino’s who volunteer to DJ always stick on the gangster house music. The spa girls will be chatting up the Italian officers, and the entertainment department will be socializing only amongst themselves. Bore me later. BUT, Juzzy and Mia really want to go.

I tried to get the Boss Man John to come to no avail. So it will just be me with a gay mask on and a girl on each arm. No wonder I am still single. As I look around the party I see everyone wearing a mask and I think to myself how nice it is that this old tradition of wearing masks to a party which started in Venice is still alive today, only instead of dancing to the waltz, everyone is dancing to Limp Bizkit and D.Piddy.

The way of the world I guess…