SALAD DAYS...

...although in those days the nearest we came to a salad was the lettuce in the after pub-hours hamburger which we invariably threw away anyway.
Tonight I was reminded of one of the most pleasant periods of my life.  I 'did the right thing' tonight and made myself a vegetable stew from; some items in the fridge (pumpkin, courgette, cauliflower); some items from the garden (leek, spring-onion, broccoli); and other vegetable (potato, frozen beans, chilli). It was scrumptious and heart warming. Feeling virtuous I tidied up the kitchen, did some correspondence and settled in to watch some TV (not much worth watching on a Thursday night but I caught up on the Boardwalk Empire programme I missed on the weekend. Half way through this I felt a craving for something sweet and savoury. I made myself a 'mousetrap' . These are made from bread (toasted or untoasted) covered in grated cheese, bacon, tomato and onion with a touch of relish, grilled in the oven. I made mine from just the bread, cheese, relish and tomato. Why this reminded me of a very pleasant period of my youth was that in my early university days, a frequent Friday night event was 'back at Tony's place' after the pub if no parties were found or, if as was usually the case, we were kicked out early. Tony lived in Heargreaves Street with his father George. The rest of us at that stage in our lives still lived at home. Tony, living with his dad in this recently bought two bed-roomed house in a (soon to be) trendy urban setting was akin to flatting. George was out late most nights and away early in the mornings so 'back at Tony's place' was always a good fall-back plan if the number one plan failed. In the '70's there wasn't much option for late night entertainment. Pubs closed at 10PM, night-clubs were virtually unknown (or illegal) and the only thing going was a party. Now no one in their right mind would throw a party at their own place so you would just hope that some loony was doing it somewhere else. We used to go to the Grand Hotel in Willis Street. Why, I don't know. It was one of the two or three frequented pubs by Victoria University students of the time. The party plan was to hang around and hear of a party somewhere, stock up on some essential supplies (beer usually, not condoms as we didn't think we'd get that lucky) and head off to the location on closing time. The secret weapon was usually Mike because he was good looking and charming and could engage someone at the front door while the rest of us slipped in. Generally this worked, at least getting into the party but to quite various results.We never knew what sort of party it was going to be as we of course didn't know the hosts from a bar of soap. Sometimes the party could be a religious group (Second would have been at home).

At other times it was a bunch of hippies, or accountants or, worse still, other students (they didn't have anything worth drinking either). The worst though were fringe connections of Richard's (Music Faculty) or any contacts of Tony's. A contact of Tony's probably originated from the Karori Rugby Club ( a euphemism for down and out degenerate thugs of low IQ) and any 'social gathering' connected with that lot was going to end in tears. I might mention in another post how Richard and I attended one such gathering and (instigated by aforementioned Tony) we ended up getting roughed up. I still remember the clear imprint of a hob-nailed boot on Richard's face the next day. But I digress. If no parties were indicated or. if said party was a no-go, we would often go back to Heargreaves Street. The gathering was usually Tony, whose place it was (but not always as being an old villa-type house the windows would easily open so we didn't need him to be there), me, Richard, Noel, Mike and some others. We would have some cheap offerings that was the party fare (DB beer, out of condition other beers from the wholesalers we worked at - Bass, Brew 22 etc.) but also some better stuff (kept for emergencies in case we met up with a woman - wine, Southern Comfort, Kruskovac etc.).
 These little gatherings could last for a good few hours during which time we would get hungry and want to have something to eat. Now Wellington in 1972/3 was a bit different to today. KFC, McDonald's. Pizza Hut. Wendy's etc., did not exist. There was very little take-away options (fish and chip shops closed at 8PM) and whatever was open at 2 in the morning was a serious health risk. We chose to make 'mousetraps' using Tony's bread, tomatoes, onions and cheese until it was all used up. This used to piss George off as I guess we were eating the best part of his Saturday breakfast which he needed before he headed off to work. We did bring along provisions but I think we always ate more than we brought (maryjane munchies). These little gatherings  with all of their lunacy, bonding, good-natured sparring and discovery of interesting music and other things were memorable and tonight they came alive for me. I didn't have any Kruskovak but have had a couple of Gledronach 15 y.o.'s to help the memory along.

A Salad experience for TSB