Doomed, Kapitano

Immidiately following from the last post...

Myself, John M, Roxanne C, her brother Craig, and partner Tom. Sitting in The One-Eyed Dog drinking all manner of flavoured alchohol, before sauntering off unsteadily for a balti.

Roxanne is a working-class 20-year-old single mother. She's also highly intelligent, unflinching ethical, and takes no sexism or humbug from anyone. Yes, I rather admire her.

Tom is one of the classic strong silent types. Reserved to the point of invisibility until he's sure he can trust you, after which he can be a rocklike friend if you need one.

Craig is 19, uncertain what to believe about any of the big issues, a skilled electric bass player...and utterly utterly gorgeous. Also socially awkward and convinced he's not attractive - which just makes him even more utterly gorgeous.

After John M sensibly went home to get some sensible sleep like a sensible person, the rest of us piled into Roxanne's flat and got drunk again.

They think I'm middle-aged at 34, incredibly posh because I don't drop "H"s, and wise because I spent most of my adult life in university.

I think they're poor as church mice, generous with what they have, and have more human warmth than my entire extended family put together.

Rocks - as she's generally known - has a birthday coming up, and wants me to sing at the party. It's not quite the type of gig I'd imagined, but hey, it sounds good. They seem to genuinely like my music a lot.

Actually, it's reciprocated - Tom and Craig are in a jazz/funk/reggae band called Bodygurn, which I think is bloody good. If they were organised enough to get gigs, they'd have a solid following.

Craig, when not having self-doubts about his sexuality together with everything else, is straight - or as he puts it "so not gay". But he and his sister are easygoing and tactilly affectionate, which may explain why, when we eventually did sleep, it was all 3 of us tessellated on the sofa (fully clothed), using each other as pillows.

And then when Rocks spent the daytime doing college coursework, we two boys, feeling completely shattered, spent most of it snoozing in each other's arms. If it weren't so sweet it would be confusing.