I was in the mood to go and do something, but everyone seemed to be busy and my parents went out to drop mum at choir. And then I thought, fuck it. I want to get out of here tonight, somewhere far but not too far, a place I have good memories, a place with a buzz and safety. Bam. Bath! So I drove there.
Left a note saying 'See you later' and I drove. On the way there, my heart beat was pounding. I don't know Bath roads well, not to mention in the dark and I didn't know how safe I'd be, especially as no one knew where I was. It's the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever had. I couldn't sort my music. It was too loud and stressful and then it was too quiet I could hear my chaotic brain going. The pace was too quick or the songs had too many memories.
Soon I arrived at Bath, the first thing I saw was a bunch of teenagers stood looking dismayed by a car which had engulfed a street light. I thought to myself - ah. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I parked in a car park, (which by the way charges for parking at night and there were wardens a-plenty. Not impressed), and then trotted into Bath, stood on the bridge for a while, sauntered around. I found that actually there was a nice vibe everywhere.
I saw another girl sat on a bench staring up at the bells ringing by a church, clearly alone and not waiting to meet anyone, clearly not from Bath. I wondered if she'd run too. And there was a couple near me, middle-aged. She was sat on his lap and he was going on and on about the history of this damned church and I wanted to know how much she really cared. It seemed to me they were still in that dopey stage of loving everything the other says, wanting to impress. A bunch of university students going for a night run, stretching in the courtyards and scampering after one another.
Stumbling on, exploring the city in a new range of colour I soon decided after an hour of walking and stopping that quite frankly, I was in need of a loo. Racked with guilt for using anywhere's premises, I stopped at Nero and ordered a 'Latte' which was actually fabulous. Last time I tried to order coffee I was staring at all the fancy names, the woman said nicely: 'Wha dya wan?' and I said 'Just a coffee really' and she looked at me like I was an imp until I opted for a 'Cappuccino.' I'm young, I don't know what the difference is yet. For god's sake I had to google the word to spell check it just to share that anecdote.
Anyway, the Latte was just as lovely and the loo trip not, (no bog roll), so I left and quickly bumped into Lizzie Gatehouse. Had a quick chat with her, I think we were both quite struck for having seen each other out of context. I even felt bad for polluting her university life with an old face. Never mind, she made me chuckle.
Once I was back in my car, I drove home with the music on loud, my singing even louder and drove easily the whole way home, a hell of a lot happier than I had on the way. I would recommend running away to anyone. It felt thrilling.
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