George
Today is a Friday and I am pondering the age-old question of how to spend my Friday evening. As a single lady in her late twenties, the societal expectation is for me to go out to a fancy dinner with my best female friends, have a couple of cocktails and maybe bar hop a bit. Yet I am currently toying with another solo cinema date or going to the gym; as the gym is surprisingly free on Friday evenings. I chose the gym in the end, for anyone curious, so that I could have a face pack in the bath moment afterwards. Don't get me wrong I am enjoying my single girl living alone whilst travelling the world era currently, I just have a thought every other month or so when I find myself in on a Friday evening considering the different possibilities that the night could hold and would have held had I gone down different paths.
The Long Term Relationship
In my twenties, I have had a couple of long-term relationships. The first one was all about partying as we were at uni, and that is just what students did on Friday nights. However, there was a time that didn't happen as I worked Saturday mornings, but that's a topic for another day. The second one was post uni so Friday night could mean a date night out, a takeaway in, a couples run together or just anything we wanted to do with our night together. Of course, this would end like a fairytale falling asleep in each other's arms. It was a good time in my life and I know I have a lot of Friday nights like that to look forward to in the future, but for now, it's all about me me me and I'm very happy with that.
The Travel Fridays
Now these break into three types: Fridays when I go on nights out, Fridays when I am travelling and Fridays when I am too exhausted from travelling. Let's start with the nights out, as these are the fun ones. Where I am in a new place it gets to evening so I go for dinner and see where the night takes me. Sometimes it just takes me to finish dinner and then go back to my room, other times it's a wild night out or even something in between. I've even met new friends before and arranged to do something the next day. They are always fun Fridays. Then we have the actual travel days, which are the worst. Friday flights always appear to be in the evening, which truly baffles me as who doesn't want to enjoy their Friday nights? This means landing in a new city in the dark and trying to navigate public transport. Nightmare. I've gone to friends' houses before which is even more awkward as you are there shattered and they want to drink, have a takeaway or do something as it's Friday. Finally, there are the exhaustion Fridays where you have been visiting places all week, or arrived at a new place the day before, so sleep is top of the agenda for the evening. I think I've fallen asleep at 6.30 pm before because of this. Criminal I know.
The Party Friday
Party Fridays these days can mean going out or they can mean cheese and wine at a friend's with their kids. It's honestly a dice roll and depends on what stage of their life my chosen friend is in. Party Fridays involve playing a lot of noughties bangers to get in the mood, followed by a nice dinner beforehand, to line the stomach, as who can hack alcohol like they did at eighteen? Then after that, it's normally a couple of nice pubs to chat before going to somewhere to dance for a bit. However, seeing past midnight is a no-go. Getting most of my friends past 10 pm these days is a big deal. The cheese and wine nights I kind of like as I love cheese, and tend to avoid alcohol these days. Friends with kids tend to host these so they don't have to worry about babysitting and I get free cheese tastings so it's a win-win.
This brings us back to the question of what you do on Friday nights. The answer is a lot. They change as your circles, interests and behaviours change throughout life, but no matter what stage you are at you have many different options. It is just important to enjoy you're current stage and not reminisce about old stages, as each stage is special and has its purpose in your life. If all else fails have a little dance to Abba and eat peanut butter from the jar.
