ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Lacking direction and purpose in life, Stephen Patridge threw caution to the wind and decided to move to London for some reason not even he can identify.
The 28-year-old local even threw a farewell party at a popular French Quarter drinking hole.
Despite it being on a Thursday, close to fifty of his closest mates and their partners showed up at the Pisse Dans Ma Bouche on Rue du Gasson last week to see him off.
But that was then and today, the spritely Gemini found himself in London with his first of many Oyster weekly travel cards and a hunger in his soul to experience something new.
So he took the advice of his older brother and made contact with the only other person he knew in town.
That person is Michael Frost.
They’ve only met him once at his brother’s 21st in 2007 – but that’s not going to stop him from organising a meetup.
All yesterday afternoon, Stephen toiled over the first message he was going to fire off the Michael.
“I was looking for a good mix of wit and sincerity,” he said.
“Took me like an hour to finally press send. Anyway, he wrote right back and said he’d be happy to have a beer. So we did.”
After explaining where he was staying temporarily with family friends in Blackheath, Micheal and Stephen decided to meet up somewhere in Zone 1.
A small, overpriced bar near Monument Tube station ultimately played host to the at-first uncomfortable get-together but as the pints continued, they opened up to a certain extent.
Come morning time, Stephen apologised to our reporter for being late to ring him as he’d fallen asleep on the last Southeastern service and woken up in Sevenoaks – a good hour south of the British capital.
“I can barely remember what happened, I’m not used to pints,” he said.
“But it was good. He sent me a message this morning asking if I got home OK. He was worried that I was too hammered to get the train and too broke to get a cab.”
Michael confirmed Stephen’s recollection of last night.
“Mate,” he prefaced.
“We got thrown out of there pretty early on in the piece. I’ve never been thrown out of a pub in London before, that was a new experience. But yeah, he’s a nice enough kid. Glad to hear he got home safe.”
More to come.
