I woke up earlier than planned this morning – to Byron meowing, urggghh – and decided to do some admin. Then the living room light flickered and died. I dug around and found a set of spare bulbs, and changed the bulb – the first time I’ve ever changed a bulb in my life! A milestone!
Went to the gym, and then joined one of Heidi’s gym friend’s “half-birthday” brunch at The Ivy City Garden (Half-what?! Yeah… it is the six month mark between her last birthday and her next. I didn’t know it was even a thing), and then post-brunch drinks in a hotel bar in the City. I had spoken to some of them before – Heidi’s gym crew – over a previous brunch or two. But there were a couple of other girls I didn’t really know.
It was kind of an interesting afternoon. The crowd is quite different from my usual: a retired ex-City type, a hotel general manager, a Corporate HR girl, a dietician, and a deputy head teacher. The ages ranged from mid 30s to late 50s. About 50% white Brits, with an Aussie, possibly a Nigerian-Brit, Heidi, and I. So the attitudes, opinions, and conversation were quite… diverse and interesting. I found it quite… interesting… that the half-birthday girl said that she used to be really rude, and entitled, and that she’s so much better now. (Whuutttt??!!)
I‘m not sure I can think of a more entitled adult that I socially interact with, so I found it quite scary, and alarming. I was slightly appalled by some of the views she expressed and comments that she made. But my time at my current workplace has trained to be relatively poker-faced and zen. And I was amused by the men’s clear and largely polite skepticism and oh-so-polite British understated questions. At least I wasn’t the only one who thought she was… a bit much. But it seems they accept her well enough, because they are a ‘crew’, albeit the core crew is just a year old, given the newest member only joined the gym a year ago. But I also did hear some gym gossip, which it seems at one of the other girls agreed with, whereas the other girl tried to counter-argue, mitigate it. It’s slightly depressing to realise that there are cliques, disgruntlement, gossip, and cattiness everywhere – not just at work, or school, but also apparently the gym!
It was quite nice and fun in a way, hanging out with gym / activity folks – this group seem to be quite social. It’s a good way to broaden one’s circle, and interact with a wider range of people. It’s really impressive how Heidi is quite friendly and social. If it weren’t for her, I think I would just go to the gym and come back home, or to the office, with just monosyllabic greetings. But at the same time, I find some of it quite disturbing. I think it’s nice for now, given I’m in the midst of separation / divorce, and just emerging from my cocoon after years of social isolation. But I guess I will recalibrate or evolve my social circle and engagements over time.
Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable and thought-provoking Sunday, which has just about satisfied my social needs and drained my social battery, without my feeling like I want to stab myself with a fork just quite yet.
