You know I moved to Brisbane in August 2006, and into this very apartment five years ago on Riverfire. Not much has changed apartment-wise, I've updated the furniture and moved things around - the rent has gone up $20 in all that time. Back then the cost of this apartment was over my price range, but unless I wanted to house-share (unappealing) or live in something that closely resembled a crack den (even less appealing), I had no choice but to up my price limit. Fortunately, my landlords are the owners and more concerned with good tenants than raking in the income that most landlords have the luxury of these days.
My income has increased over the last five years, but my rent hasn't. It was a great move that has allowed me the convenience of not having to move, while all those around me pay significantly more to live further out. But it was a stable refuge during a time that wasn't stable - the second half of 2006 being a difficult time for me, but with a permanent job (although one I didn't love) and a good place to live I was doing okay. Frankly, Brisbane was a stepping stone to ride out a few family matters I had on the boil before moving somewhere more my style (read: Melbourne).
But things in 2007 started to improve - I made friends slowly, but reluctantly. I didn't much see the point considering I had no ambitions to stay in this town. But good friends can be annoyingly persistent and Shirley wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to being part of my life. Then came Kelly, another work friend and then Gloria, who was on secondment with our team from the Melbourne office.
Work was busy that year, but then most of my friends were work people, so it was a melding of a busy work life that had some level of social activity in it. I also spent a lot of that year flying around the country revisiting with older friends - people I'd met in London and people from uni who I hadn't seen in a long time. I even managed a friendly dinner with an ex-London flatmate in Melbourne - and this was a housing situation where we all walked our separate ways as soon as the keys were handed back and, I was sure, none of us would be friends again.
Probably mid-2007, a friend of Shirley's invited us to join their trivia team at the Regatta and that's when Nick and Scott came on the scene. Probably a couple of weeks after some more Tuesday night trivia games, I was out shopping when I got a random call from Scott inviting me to a BBQ at his and Nick's house (and that Tiff would be there). Basically, that's where it all kicked off.
At the end of September that year, I would meet Sara, Rachel and (my now boyfriend) Richard at Nick's terribly drunk birthday party at the Normanby. An event I actually didn't plan to go to, but it was the year I was reading Yes Man and Tiff basically drove to my house and made a point of knocking on my door and pointing out that the pub was around the corner from me. I was later to learn that Richard also had no intentions of going out that night and was only there as a result of Sara dragging him along (so she could 'spend time with' her now partner Nick).
That was a funny night, Tiff and Scott where sort of secretly together, but not saying anything. Nick and Sara were definitely keen, but not saying anything. And Rich and I were... well, just meeting as friends.
It was the next week that I got a random email from Sara (I assumed she got my email address off of Nick's birthday invite) asking if I'd like to hang out some time? My recollection of Sara at that point was some friend of Nick's I'd spoken to at drinks for maybe an hour at most. My second thought was, 'This girl is cool - why is she approaching me?'. So I agreed to 'hang out' and the rest of us just found ourselves thrown together over 2008 into the primal beginnings of a very close circle of friends.
We all have 'other friends' of course, which we sometimes bring together, but we also always find that the other friends don't stay too long. We've been told we're a hard nut to crack into - which is funny because there's always random people around. I guess the way I like to think of this group is that we'll make our own fun no matter what anyone else, the situation or the weather is doing. This is a group of people who have virtually nothing in common with each other, and yet are all up for whatever is thrown on the table. I like that about them.
This time last year Nick and Sara move to Sydney for Nick's work. Though we travel to see them or they come up to see us, and Rich and I hang out with Tiff and Scott and Rachel when we can, the dynamics have been very different the last year. Not bad different, just different different. Harder to get everyone together. Not as many crazy parties, weekends or activities. But Nick and Sara are moving back at the end of September. :) This is exciting to all of us.
These people are basically the reason I never left when my two year hiatus in Brisbane came to an end. I've moved cities/countries four times in my adult life and this move was by far the hardest because as you get older it's more difficult to forge those types of friendships. When I moved to Perth I was going to uni so you are naturally in an environment (and at an age) where you will make friends. When I moved to London I worked for a company where all the staff were under 30 - so my work was also my social life. That was much harder to do with no connections in Brisbane and working in a company where the average age and gender was 45 and male. But somehow I managed it.
I personally am a little over Brisbane - and have been for some time and feel I know enough people in Melbourne to form a network of friends again. Granted, nothing like the ones I have here... but it's possible. But it's not so easy when you have a partner to think about who is less inclined to uproot his life as easily as I have done many times over.
Today I am staying up too late involved with looking at old photos of ourselves when we hardly knew each other at all.
