The Friend Ship

All aboard!  All aboard!  We’re setting sail on The Friend Ship.  Raise the anchor and check you’ve got your Tena Ladies.  You’re going to need suitable dancing footwear, an iron constitution and an open mind.

First stop, the Port of Shared History.  Experience the warm glow, easy laughter and inexhaustible topics that Shared History brings.  Revel in comfortable silences as you exchange secret smiles over drinks that speak of twenty plus years of familiarity and common ground.

Link arms as you stroll through a destination that isn’t relevant because you’re together and that’s what counts.  Slip easily between serious and silly topics of conversation, knowing that the others will follow your lead.  Relentlessly make fun of each other without the risk of offence and relax, knowing that no topic is off-limits but that anything said in confidence will stay in confidence.

Next, sail over to the famous town of Knowing Each Other Inside Out.  Here, you will witness the subtle nuances of each other’s moods and know when to reassure, when to listen and when to take someone’s mind off a problem.

Why not enjoy a drink at the What’s Mine Is Yours bar, where nobody keeps tabs on who’s buying a round, safe in the knowledge that everyone always pays their way and it will all equal out in the end.

Sample the menu at the I Don’t Mind Sharing Restaurant, where it’s OK to pinch food off other plates and if someone has chips, indulge in the unwritten rule that they’re shared property so everyone can help themselves.

Our final stop on the journey will be the Embarrassing Photo Opportunities nightclub, essential on any evening excursion involving alcohol.  Visit the toilets together, pass loo roll under cubicle doors and borrow each other’s lippy.

Here, it WILL seem like a good idea to arrange yourselves into all sorts of ridiculous poses, even though a vague voice in the back of your mind will be telling you you’ll regret it tomorrow.  Feel free to fondle each other’s boobs and have a drunken half-snog, you’re all consenting adults after all (with husbands and children at home).

Get involved in the local tradition of repeating the following phrases AT LEAST twenty times; ‘I love you, you know.  Nooo, you don’t understand.  I REALLY love you.’  This is usually followed by lots of hugging and intense, drunken staring that is meant to convey genuine emotion.

On this last leg of your voyage, there are three things you should do in order to ensure you have maximised your potential for an excellent night out:

• Find a space large enough for all of you to throw some serious shapes.
• Check that the music is of a suitably cheesy genre.
• Ensure that alcohol consumption is copious enough to lack inhibition but not so much that you feel the need to remove your clothes.

At a reasonably ridiculous hour (let’s say 3am for the sake of argument), return to The Friend Ship, preferably giggling, reminiscing about your evening and planning the next one very soon… 🙂

For other feel-good posts with a theme of ‘Happiness’, check out this great blog, 3 Children and It 🙂