This short and ridiculous story has been prompted by The Other Livvy’s other blog, @sexlovevideo. If you’re not following it already then you really should: every Sunday evening she posts an in-depth analysis of a movie, rating it on how sex positive it is, whether she’d want to watch it again, the fuckability of the cast, whether it inspires fantasies and whether it passes the Bechdel Test. This week it’s the turn of clanger What Women Want, a truly dreadful film – do go and read Liv’s take down of it.
I was on a round the world trip when this film came out and I and the two friends I was travelling with watched it on a flight to Australia. We laughed our way through it in disbelief and horror but the final straw in our incredulous hooting was at the end when Mel Gibson (spoiler!) gets his woman: they kiss in a dramatic lobby and the camera pans out to show her with one foot in the air. We lost it. WHO KISSES WITH ONE FOOT IN THE AIR?!
We were still cackling about it when we bonded with a group of women in a hostel, some of who I’m still friends with now and who’ve taken one or two photos on this blog. We (probably under the influence of too much white wine) decided that our mission was to get a photo of one of us snogging a man with one foot in the air. It was the start of a ridiculous list of photo challenges we set ourselves, including photobombing wedding photos on Sydney harbour and sneaking photos of men on the nude beach (forgive our poor awareness of consent – we were young and stupid and know much better now!).
Anyway, the opportunity for the leg in the air photo came a few weeks later when we went to one of Sydney’s less salubrious night clubs for a school disco. A chap starting making the moves on me on the dance floor and my friends were quickly egging me on to get the photo. When the bloke snogged me I’m not quite sure what he made of all my friends roaring with laughter and snapping away. Anyway, as it happens he was pretty hot and a great snog and it wasn’t long before we were sneaking off to a hidden store room. A store room that was dark and had a mattresses. It was funny and pretty hot and after he nipped out for condoms some more than passable sex ensued. Given we were drunk and in a manky storeroom it’s remarkable there were any orgasms but there was. Then on the ‘comfort’ of the mattress we slipped into a deep slumber. Which is how we found ourselves sneaking out of the fire exit of a closed and quiet nightclub at 6am on a Sunday morning and wandering through the streets of Sydney dressed as a school girl and school boy.
I’m not sure who has those photos these days so I can’t share one, but the leg in the air game continued so please enjoy this photo of me kissing Toadie from Neighbours.
Footnote: the nightclub later featured on an expose of the sex lives of backpackers in Sydney. I did not feature but I now have a good idea of how many other people may have used that mattress!
This is just the best story. It’s got everything; travel, sex, suspense, humour…and TOADIE FROM NEIGHBOURS! Amazing.
This put a huge smile on my face. Oh the things we did when we were younger!
Rebel xox
I should add it to WW given that travel and sex (and being daft! are my favourite ways to centre myself!!!
Oh my college year was filled with adventures. Not quite as fun as yours sound! I agree, I have never kissed a guy and had a foot lift up what was the whole point of that??
Hilarious!! I’d hazard a guess that seedy club was in Kings Cross? It’s been a long, long time since I was last in Sydney, but I recall “the Cross” being infamous ?
For a moment in this tale, I thought perhaps Toadie himself had been your mattress-mate! I was suddenly seeing him in a whole new light!!
Sounds like the kind of amazingly fun holiday with your girlfriends that you will always remember fondly.
And thanks for recommending the Other Livvy’s film blog. I absolutely agree about “What Women Want”. Hideous misogynistic claptrap dressed up as cod feminism!
That’s the exact place!!!
What a fun adventure! I was such a good kid, I wish I had more fun tales from my youth. Guess I am more than making up for it now. 🙂
What a wonderful story. Fun seeing the ciggy machine in the background, those are gone now. (at least here on the west coast)
Great story. Thanks for sharing!