Albums that remind you of stuff

Was shuffling some stuff on Spotify and (Just Like) Starting Over by Lennon came on and I was instantly transported back to 2003, laying on the bottom bunk of my bed on a Sunday afternoon. I say bottom bunk, but it didn't really have 2 bunks. The bottom part was a couch that folded out into a bed. I guess it was a sofa bed, really. Anyway, I don't want to get lost in unimportant details here.

So I was laying on the sofa bed or whatever it was, on an absolutely massive comedown. We'd been out on the Friday and Saturday night, and as was the norm round about that time, we'd done a load of pills across the 2 nights. I was still living at home at this point and my parents house wasn't too far away from town, perhaps a 20 minute walk. The Friday night, walking home with my mate, we saw some lass across the road getting hassled by a group of lads. Being the upstanding citizens that we were back then, we went over to see if everything was alright. After a bit of a heated back and forth, the lads soon moved on.

Now the lass in question here wasn't particularly attractive or anything, that was clearer than ever when we got up close. But that wasn't the motivation behind trying to help out. Anyway, she was very friendly and said she was heading back to her place where there was a bit of an afters going on, and did we want to go. We flagged a taxi down and off the 3 of us went.

I was in the front and my mate and the lass in the back. There was some fumbling and giggling and whatnot so I assume stuff was happening. To this day, my mate says nothing did happen but I'm not convinced. From the route we're taking, I was starting to suspect that this lass was from a bit of a ropey area. That was confirmed when we pulled upto to her house. But in we went.

It wasn't much of an afters, maybe 7 or 8 people? But there was no seating available so I perched down on the floor and drank whatever I could get my hands on. Didn't really speak to anyone, just sort of observed the room. I noticed that my mate had managed to make himself comfortable on the windowsill of the bay window and was laid asleep. I got pretty bored and told my mate I was leaving. He woke up and off we went but not before the lass said bye to use, and thanks for helping her out. And that was that.

The Saturday night, we were out again, and I think it was probably a bigger night in terms of drinking and pills because I don't remember everything quite as clearly as the Friday. We were in our local nightclub, The Wesley, and who should I bump into but the lass from the night before. Now remember she's not particularly attractive but somehow, we end up with our faces stuck together in a little booth in the corner of the nightclub. The next memory I have is being back at hers, just the 2 of us, and her feeding me a tangerine but trying to do it quite seductively. Then it's all a bit of a blur again until early Sunday morning. It's here where I established that she wasn't a "lass" but actually a woman of 28 years old. Not just this, but she's even harder on the eyes. Still, I was there so we spent a couple of hours going at it which came to an end when I almost experienced a fully snapped banjo. There was blood but it wasn't a complete snap so I was alright.

She asks if I want a cuppa or anything and I request water. So there I am laid in this woman's bed, dick bleeding, hungover, coming down. I'm alone and looking round the room thinking what a shit hole the place is. Only I'm not alone because a kid, must've been 2 years old, comes running into the room. It stops in it's tracks when it seems me there. Then 2 more run in, older, perhaps 5 or 6? And we're all just froze. The woman comes back up and proclaims: "Oh, these are my little ones" then tells them to say hello to me. I'm pretty sure at this point that I heard one of the older ones mutter: "Homewrecker" but I can't be certain because it may just be that I was still fucked off the drink and drugs.

I stayed in her room while she got her kids ready and stuff and eventually someone came and picked her kids up. We went downstairs where I continued to try my hardest not to fucking die. Eventually, it was time for me to go home, it must have been early afternoon. As I walked outside to get in my taxi, one of her neighbors was on the step and shouted over: "Better get yourself tested tomorrow mate" so that made my exit pretty awkward. The 28 year old woman laughed it off and told the neighbor to fuck off.

I got home, went straight to my room, and collapsed on the thing that might've been some sort of sofa bed. I leaned over to my CD player and hit play, and it was Lennon Legend that came on. I spent the rest of the day, and night, listening to it while experiencing probably the worst comedown I've ever had and thinking about how mad everything that had happened was. And now every time I hear that compilation, or songs from it, I'm taken back to that afternoon.


"her feeding me a tangerine but trying to do it quite seductively"