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An Unexpected Party
Jan. 31st, 2004 09:40 pmLast Saturday Sharon came by the shop with an invitation to Christan's thirtieth birthday party - his wife had been arranging a big, surprise event and had contacted the cinema to track down some familiar faces. Well, I didn't have much planned - I doubt that the new series of CSI:Miami will be any better than the last one - and I said I'd come along and say hello.
Christan started at the cinema a week after I did, and stayed almost as long, eventually finishing as a projectionist before heading off to become a school's computer technician. I've been to his wedding, and even have a slight personal connection to the birth of his second child (Mum was the consulting midwife). Apart from a brief chat a couple of times when he's been in the shop - usually at Christmas - I hadn't seen much of him.
It's always the same when I meet up with any more than two people I used to work with - it's always in some pub/club venue with disco music, low lighting and bellowed conversation. So I caught up as best I could with the rest of the cinema contingent : Andy C is still in the police, a true Blue Pompey fan working out of Southampton Central. Tris & Rachel just about have a mortgage sorted and will be moving to Stamshaw.
Christan was pleased to see us, and then reverted to type (hyperactive control-freakery) by spending five minutes calibrating the sound settings and lights of Andy C's disco.
We had a quick, shouted chat, and Chris said that he'd often thought that some of his time at the cinema was some of the best time he'd ever had at work. I had to agree - time was when we were brand new, the only game in town, and the management team all the way up to the top had a pretty good idea of what they were doing.
When it came time to say goodbye we couldn't find Chris - his earlier birthday celebration (paintballing) and earlier alcohol intake had felled him. "When he wakes up", I said to another former UCI-er who was staying on, "pretend to him that he hallucinated us leaving".
Christan started at the cinema a week after I did, and stayed almost as long, eventually finishing as a projectionist before heading off to become a school's computer technician. I've been to his wedding, and even have a slight personal connection to the birth of his second child (Mum was the consulting midwife). Apart from a brief chat a couple of times when he's been in the shop - usually at Christmas - I hadn't seen much of him.
It's always the same when I meet up with any more than two people I used to work with - it's always in some pub/club venue with disco music, low lighting and bellowed conversation. So I caught up as best I could with the rest of the cinema contingent : Andy C is still in the police, a true Blue Pompey fan working out of Southampton Central. Tris & Rachel just about have a mortgage sorted and will be moving to Stamshaw.
Christan was pleased to see us, and then reverted to type (hyperactive control-freakery) by spending five minutes calibrating the sound settings and lights of Andy C's disco.
We had a quick, shouted chat, and Chris said that he'd often thought that some of his time at the cinema was some of the best time he'd ever had at work. I had to agree - time was when we were brand new, the only game in town, and the management team all the way up to the top had a pretty good idea of what they were doing.
When it came time to say goodbye we couldn't find Chris - his earlier birthday celebration (paintballing) and earlier alcohol intake had felled him. "When he wakes up", I said to another former UCI-er who was staying on, "pretend to him that he hallucinated us leaving".
