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The Summer of 2001

Ali and Sian.
Sian,Ali


Hello, my name is Jim. It's not really. Sucker. That was a lie, but the rest of this book shall be totally true, I swear to god. How do you know that wasn't a lie too? I'll tell you, you don't.

Ahh... where to start...
Well, it was the summer of 2001, I feel this takes away from the desired effect, but nevertheless, it was the summer of 2001.
We were young, free and hyped up on any alcohol we could get our hands on. Alcohol, in fact, plays a vital role in the rest of this story, depressingly enough.
Mary, we called her Mary, that was her name.
She said, "Hello, are you my people?!" and we replied with "Onwards! To Crossgroves!"
Crossgroves at the time was a local off licence, or "offy" to the rebellious young teens of Belfast's fair city. It specialised in underage drinkers, (except when the camera was on!). And truthfully, it's what kept us alive back in those days before we discovered Tescos.
We waved to the working class citizens sipping coffee in a nearby cafe, all 3 of us in high spirits, and appeared back round the corner each with a clinking bag. Smirnoff ice. Those were the innocents.
Part one. Sians story.
I remember what is to follow clear as day... in some parts the day is not so clear, but for the most part, it's a beautiful reminder of the summer and what is, and shall always be... "Damian". When we returned to city hall with the Smirnoff, we were surprised to see two young scallywags from the school we were known to frequent- ("Aqueernas/Aquinas"). They went by the names "Scroney" and "Wallz". We were glad to see the pair and thought sharing the decent thing to do. They amused us all with their wrestling and the likes and when Ali and Mary went to befriend the regulars of city hall, I decided to stay and chat with "the lads". As Wallz demonstrated to me the ins and outs of certain wrestling techniques, Scroney jeered and enquired if there was to be any "romance" on the cards for young Wallz that day. I set him straight. No. I had a boyfriend, who I "loved" and there was no way, no way at all would I be cheating on him. Little did I know how "stroked" I would become later that day.

My boyfriend, Eoin was a "steek" he wore tracksuits and sports gear and was very much not the type for city hall, he didn't bother them, and they didn't bother him. Kept himself to himself, and so I didn't see him as often as I would have liked to. Still, the relationship seemed to be going strong.Scroney wasn't giving up, and my love for Eoin was not to be toyed with, so I said my farewells to the lads and joined the girls on the promenade. When I say promenade... I mean wall.They had met up with some lively characters, such as formerly purple haired Connor as he was fondly named afterwards. Ali had her eye on him from the beginning, but he departed before she could make her move.As we sat there, soaking up the sun like there was no tomorrow, chatting to the regulars, we realized something was missing... we pondered for a moment or two, when suddenly, it dawned on us, Mary! She was nowhere to be found. We waited around, she had met a young lad, we knew this much and we assumed she would return. We settled ourselves on a bench near Scroney and Wallz, all our belongings were still with the "lads" and they were soon to leave, we didn't want to risk anything else going missing!
Part two. Alis story.
So we were walking through the back streets with our multiple blue bags, it was actually more of a strut because we all felt quite the young rebels. We were warned about having a run in with the pigs and were thrilled at the thought of committing pretty crime. I was excited further when Bernard was at the hall upon our return, and chatted enthusiastically to him for a while. He was amused at the plan for the day and told me I was pathetic. But I knew what he meant to say was cool. I don't know how to continue with the next bit of the day because it was mostly just you know, getting drunk.
The Max
Ali seemed annoyed that we couldn't follow our usual routine of sitting upstairs in the front seats of a double decker bus. I had brought along a small child and it was not possible to leave his buggy and the likes downstairs while we followed our usual pattern.
She got over the change quickly however, and we were in high spirits as we departed the bus and made our way to city hall.
It was bustling, young Ruairi the ice cream vender was in his usual spot, but it seemed there was an unusually large crowd for just ice cream! As we got closer we saw them. It was heaven.
Pepsi max people, that was the attraction, there were two small vans, full of Pepsi max, and many Pepsi max people, simply giving out free bottles to passers by.
We got ourselves a few bottles, one each to start with, then it dawned on us. Free mixers?! We had hit the jackpot this time, think of the money we could save!

We went over and got a few more bottles, a few from each Pepsi max person, but pretty soon they didn't want to give us anymore. We had already got a good many bottles, and so we began to send passers by to get us some. That was how we met young Tony. He didn't want to go for us, he wanted to leave, but Alison did as he asked, she gave him a reason to stay. I was delighted, all the more Pepsi max!
To be honest- it didn't taste great... in fact it tasted bad. We were the Pepsi max kids; the bottom of the baby's pram was full of bottles, 28 in fact. We carried one bottle each, and the baby's bottle was full of it also.
Despite it's poor quality flavour, I was drawn to the carbonated, sugar free soft drink. Live life to the max, that was the message it sent out, and that was just what I did. In fact, I seemed to have gone "giddy" due to it's consumption and I wondered what e numbers it contained to make me find EVERYTHING so amusing... Who was I kidding? I didn't care what was in it to be honest, I just continued drinking. Mixers indeed, I wasn't gonna mix it, it was liquid gold.
The Max. Part Two.
My first thought of the day was 'christ its going to be a scorcher'. Actually that was what my mother had said at the breakfast table, I had gone down for a cup of tea. Eating was a thing of the past. You got drunk quicker on an empty stomach see.
On arrival in town I thought to myself, "this is going to be a let down" even though I was wearing my new piggy wig shirt. The new shirt was a big deal to me because back then I was going through my tramp phase. I still am to this day. His coat caught our attention in the midst of the Pepsi max frenzy. Said his name was Tony.
We got them free, I dunno, the 'max people' just showed up and started handing out the goods. We thought we were great with about 25 bottles all together, maybe we were great. I didn't really like him, I was indifferent, but he seemed to like me.
As was usual for me I don't know nor care how the conversation started, but it did. Hopefully due to some witty remark but more likely the result of some half hearted introduction. Anyway he wanted a reason to stay, so I didn't really give him one at all, but you know, how can I put this politely, we messed around and stuff for a while... Yeah. He thought I was great and maybe I was.
Sian seemed impressed with the "max" as she came to know it as. A little too impressed in my mind. A fizzy drink was a fizzy drink, and I didn't like the taste, give me Club Orange any day. I didn't say this though; I let her get on with it. And she did. Got through most of the supplies. But like I said, I didn't enjoy the taste so it was okay.