* This post was by T2, a co-author of In The Taratory from 2011-2013. *
Well, after a lengthy hiatus (big thanks to T1 for holding the fort while I was swanning around overseas!), I am back in our lovely nation’s capital. Gotta say, it was a bit weird being in Nice, France enjoying 15 degree weather and blue skies during their winter, while watching the mercury in Canberra dip below 5 degrees in summer! But I digress.
After spending my first weekend back unpacking, eating leftover stroopwafel and camel milk chocolate, I decided that I should spend my second weekend re-connecting with my Canberra mates. Then I realised that, while I’d been overseas, yet another five friends/drinking buddies had left for greener pastures. My social circle had shrunk yet again. Bugger.
Many will attest to the fact that Canberra can sometimes be a hard place to make mates. If you didn’t grow up or go to uni here, or join one of the government graduate programs, that ready-made group of friends isn’t on hand. You’ve gotta fend for yourself. I did come down here for a grad program, but that was back in 2008. The vast majority of my group left the department within a year or so (and so did I, but I didn’t move too far – from Belconnen down the road to Parliamentary Triangle!), most of them back to their respective home states. Sure, we’re still Facebook friends and all, but it just ain’t the same as catching up over cocktails and tapas. Besides, I spend enough time online during the week at work (don’t we all?) without doing ALL my socialising on there too!
Anyway, so when I was flicking through the Canberra Weekly magazine one lunch time, an ad for a ‘Be My Wingman’ event (let’s call it BMW) caught my eye. I went to their website to investigate further. ‘Locate new best girl friends in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra!’, the headline promised. For $40, you’d be invited along to a ‘unique social society for ladies’ (ooh, exclusive-sounding much?!), where you’d then be introduced to nine other girls around your age in a speed-date kind of setting. Oh, and you’d be given a couple of glasses of free champers. It sounded good to me, so I promptly signed up (plus, I was feeling rather guilty that I hadn’t written a blog entry for so long – I needed an interesting topic to cover!). I was excited – I’m not the type of person who is afraid of meeting new people and finding things to talk about; it’s just a matter of finding the right crowd. The thought of lurking around a pub by myself doesn’t get me going, but BMW sounded well-planned and friendly. Continue reading
In The Taratory 