Why I am here Part 1

It is 1993 in Brighton. I am home from University for the deliciously long Summer Holidays, with nothing much to do apart from kick about with old friends.

One evening, four of us go out. Damian Alex and I have been friends since we were 11, Jann joined us in VI form when we were 16. We drink as only you can when you are 20, tell jokes and laugh like hyenas, flushed with youthful exuberance.

I cant remember the pubs we went to, but we end up in the Volks tavern, under the arches, near the pier. It is a small venue, for locals wanting to carry on drinking past the 11pm watershed.

Eventually, we exit into the balmy August evening. I remember the conversation we had by the arches as if it was yesterday.

'So what are we going to do when we finish University next year?' Damian asks.

'I dunno, get a job, come back here,' Jan says, 'Have fun like we do now'.

"I meant we should do something together, go somewhere, to celebrate', Damian said. He was always the one who needed the familiarity of old friends around him.

I already knew that I had a lot of wanderlust in me. I wanted to see the world, go on impossible adventures to improbably places. 'How about India?' I said, not thinking that anyone would be interested.

'Hey, I saw a program about that last night'. Alex said. 'It was about a motorbike company, Enfield, who sold all the machinery to India and they make them there now. Classic British bike'. Alex was into his bikes, and passed his test before the rest of us could drive a car.

A lighbulb went off in my head. "Hey, we could go out there, buy a bike each, and ride it home. The Khyber pass, Iran, Turkey. I am sure you can do it'.

'Yeah, and my Mum's a Buddhist', Jan chipped in excitedly. 'She knows loads of monasteries we could stay in up in the Himalayas'.

'I was thinking something more like Spain', Damian said a little frightened by the thought. 'You know lads on tour... the family has a villa there'.

The night ends with all of us staggering drunkenly home, very very happy. We did eventually go to Spain to stay in the Buxton Villa. 2 weeks of constant drinking in an empty resort, as the season was coming to a close. It was fun, but I knew that that kind of holiday wasn't really me.

Over the years, our group drifted apart. Jan got a job in Pizza Hut, married early, moved to Southampton and had kids. I fell out with Alex over a girl, and we didn't speak for several years. This broke Damian's heart and although tried his best to be peacemaker, he found the security he needed in his own family.

By the time we had all made up several years later, we had all moved on. They all had marriages and children, so we saw each other less and less.

The night ends with all of us staggering home, happily drunk. The future to us then wasn't something really important. But the memory of India and an Enfield stayed with me.