Good ol' Pete
Back in the summer of 2004 me and a few crazy friends went out for a heavy drinking session in Peterborough. Starting in a bit of a rough O'Neills we had all resigned ourselves to the fact that the night was going to contain brief nudity, copious amounts of vodka consumption, projectile vomiting and scenes of mild peril, we had however not taken into account my friend Alan.

Now Alan is a ‘special kinda guy’ (I have mentioned his antics in a previous post) and when drunk has a tendency to befriend anyone in a 100 mile radius, whether they are interested or not. This particular trait of his made an appearance on this fateful night.

Whilst loitering around a cash point Alan caught sight of a homeless man snuggled down in a sleeping bag, looking pretty darn content. Al’s reaction to the man was a mixture of awe and glee and he grabbed my arm and exclaimed ‘Look-it, a man in a sleeping bag' – like he had never seen a homeless person before. The poor guy then made a fatal error by making eye contact with Alan, he was in. Al staggered over and introduced himself and then started questioning the guy at a speed and intensity that would have made Columbo proud.

Turns out the homeless mans name was Pete and he had been living on the streets for a couple of years after losing everything in a divorce and a mega breakdown he had at work. We all immediately felt really guilty and because Al had been probing Pete about his past this had clearly brought up old memories and Pete looked quite tearful. It was then Alan had a brilliant idea, Pete was coming out with us. After a few minutes of drunken slurring and shouts of ‘come oooooon’ we had convinced Pete to join our rabble. He found a friend to leave his stuff with and wandered off into the night with us.

We asked him where he wanted to eat and he said he fancied a Maccy D’s so we grabbed a bit of wall space outside and filled him full of burgers whilst getting ‘fuck off’ vibes from the staff. We wandered around to a few different pubs and brought Pete drinks and then attempting to get him into a nightclub, this failed - they wouldn’t let him in because he was wearing trainers. I think he found the whole night quite entertaining, as did we, and at about 2ish we dropped him back near the cash point and filled his hands with money before gallivanting off into the night cheering ‘Pete, Pete, Pete’.

It was a really strange night and we had a fun time (from what I remember) but sadly none of us ever saw Pete again. I hope he is okay wherever he is.
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Fri 3 Jul 2009, 14:23, 4 replies)

One of the weirdest nights out I ever had
Was in Peterborough. We finished up at some random club called Quo Vadis (I think). On a Tuesday night. The group of 8 of us were the only ones in there.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 3 Jul 2009, 14:57, closed)

It is
truly a special place. I only went out there once or twice mainly because it was a bit scary and also a bitch to get out of.
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Fri 3 Jul 2009, 15:03, closed)

Quo Vadis, or Peterborough itself?
I went to school near there, so had my first driving lesson in the lovely Northants countryside. My second lesson consisted of driving into Peterborough at 6pm on a Friday and trying to negotiate the ringroad. Argh!
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 3 Jul 2009, 15:39, closed)

Hehe Peterborough itself!
Aww I used to live in March so did my driving lessons in Wisbech which wasn't too horrific. I think I would have died if I had to learn to drive on the ring road in Peterborough, I'd had probably blackedout and found myself parked up in Queensgate multi-storey car parking with no memory of how I got there!! *Fears*
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Fri 3 Jul 2009, 15:48, closed)