We Are Scientists

Today has not been my best day. I have for the most part been in the most vile of moods. The kind of mood where you should have a health warning because most of what comes out of your mouth could stop a man in his track at 50 paces such is the ferocity of the venom pouring uncontrollably from you. Tonight I went to see We Are Scientists in Southampton Union with my best friend. I did not want to go. I wanted to see my best friend - naturally. However, I did not want her to see me given the aforementioned mood. I was also worrrying that taking an evening out to see a band whose track listing I could not name a single song on rather than continuing with my coursework was not a good plan. Not wanting to let her down though I gritted my teeth, shut my book on Good Breast Bad Breast and braving the weather went to the gig. Neither of us had been there for a good 7 years, back in the day when crowd surfing was not only legal but expected of you. Girls did not wear sparkly silver pumps with little tartan skirts, and boys did not spend three hours before leaving the house straightening their hair. It's a tiny venue, the ceiling is about an inch above your head and the acoustics make you dizzy the way they bounce off the walls around you. But it's great. It doesn't matter that I know none of the songs, or that the wierd boy behind me has just bored a pint of Jack and Coke down my back (which actually, given the heat of the room does cool me down). I relax. I smile. I laugh. I even dance. For the first time in weeks I forget about my work and all the other rubbish I seem to be carrying with me and live for the moment. The evening is all in all a huge success. I feel better and more content than I have in ages. Getting out the car I did well up as my best friend drove away. I always do. She doesn't live near me anymore. She hasn't lived near me for a long time now but I'm still not used to it. I guess that's what makes us friends though: that when we're together we pick up where we left off and that distance doesn't mean anything. She knows me implicitly and loves me despite everything. I don't think We Are Scientists will ever really set the world alight; but for those few hours this evening dancing with my very best friend, they were magic.