Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Friends Frothy Flavours
This month our friends Marc, Kirsten & Werner came to Australia to stay with Sally and I for two weeks. Its been over 4 years since we all worked together in London.
Marc is a former hippie biker from New Zealand who had blonde hair down to his waist before reinventing himself into a hippie with a crew cut. He was the Front Office Manager at the hotel we worked at and was renown for his pranks and practical jokes. In many ways he was the 'leader of the pack' - always talking everyone into finding their inner strength to make it out for a drink after work...it was a skill he perfected because no one ever failed to turn up unless they had a very good reason not to. Needless to say, with someone like this heading the department he soon transformed the 'team' into more of a 'family'. 
In fact, so close was the family that he began dating one of them - Kerstin. A typical German who always paid meticulous attention to detail. It was no surprise that she was Marc's Assistant...what was surprising to everyone was how two totally opposite personalities could end up together. Everyone would be in hysterics because Marc would constantly have to explain his jokes to her because she didn't get them or thought he was being serious.Werner is also from Germany and like Marc, enjoys joking around and playing pranks on people. He's someone you could trust and talk to about anything - if you were having a shit day he'd be the first to come up to you and put a smile back on your face. All your worries would have disappeared by the time you finished talking to him. That's why he was a Team Leader on the front line dealing with complaints and dissatisfied guests.
The reunion kicked off almost immediately down the pub at 12pm the day they arrived. You would think that over the years they would have slowed down but this was not the case - they carried on where they left off in London, polishing off one beer after another. As for myself, well I think I got wasted on 5 beers that day!! So I ended up taking the brunt of the jokes for the remainder of their stay and Kerstin got off the hook quite easily. Based on my performance that day I was swiftly relegated to the lightweight division. Despite trying desperately to recover my status, I never did manage to find my Mojo that I had worked so hard to earn in London...the years out of training and living a quiet suburban life left me alcoholically impotent. But I pushed myself and struggled through the weeks with a little help of the plentiful supply of panadol. This didn't quite pay off as the panadol never had enough time to work its magic...if anything they actually enhanced the effect that the alcohol was having on me and therefore cemented my reputation as a half pot screamer.
We really had a lot of fun eating, drinking, dancing and talking the nights away...After the holiday ended, Marc and Kerstin returned to the UK to work. Werner returned to work on a cruise ship where he continues his journey around the Carribbean Islands. Sally and I went back to work after cleaning up the mess that was left behind - but it was all worth it! We've already planned to get together again in 2007 - so this leaves me plenty of time to build up my stamina and regain my Mojo!
