Nightlife in the early seventy's in Ipswich was limited.... not that there was no choice of venues to go to, but a pint and a fight was usually the norm..... so I used to head out Woodbridge way for the brilliant bands that did the Village hall circuit, Ahh Bloodstone where are you now, and the locals verses the yanks, think Bentwaters and Woodbridge bases, always made life interesting....
Still the odd fight but much more fun and the gangs having the bundle often ended up buying each other drinks..... and comparing bruises....
Mind you, regarding the yanks, you steered clear of the vets but grunts were up for anything.... and the party's.... all Ill say is strip football at 3 in the morning with JD soaked steaks on the barbecue and skinny dipping on Sizewell beach with ammo cases full of Bud....Michelob..... and JD... good times.... Summer of 69... mine was 72, 73 and 74.
Anyway the story....
One of our American friends was having this leaving party at Broomswell village hall and he had asked my friend Keith and myself if we would bar tend for him... Simple job really as he had set up these three 25lt brewing tubs.... one with a Harvey Wallbanger mixture... one Bourbon/ Whisky based and a concoction of his that can only described as "there go my taste buds" which went down really smooth then just exploded in the stomach and burnt it way out.... both ends if I remember rightly....
Brilliant night was has by all but after a session of laying on the floor under one of the taps there is a couple of hours that I, surprisingly, have no memory of......
So in the small hours of the morning when things were finally winding down.... Keith, Nigel and myself wobbled off across the field to the car..... and our sleeping bags....
We were talking bollocks/ putting the world to rights, like you do when you're pissed, but I remember talking to Keith when he simply vanished..... So I turned to Nigel..... who had disappeared as well....
Standing there... thinking..... slowly..... "Ah hell... don't know what you two are up to but I'm getting some kip...." I remember saying, and staggered back to the car...
In the morning I wake up to find the mud covered bodies of Keith and Nigel snoring away and the car looked like the tide had come in.....gone out..... and come back in again....
It would seem that they had started digging two trout hatchery lakes in this field and I was the only one who found the path.... made me smile....
Apparently those two had been crawling around, one in each hole.... looking for each other in the dark..... before finally climbing out and heading to the car.
Did think it was funny but it was easier to get another car than clean this one..... good job dad owned a scrap yard....
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