So tonight marks the end of an era.

My lovely flatmate, P, has finally succumbed to the unrelenting tick-tock of his ageing biological clock and joined the Fearsome Ranks of the Grown-Ups as he moves in with his girlfriend (of approximately 24,576 and a half years) this weekend.

I'm really going to miss him

Who now can I stay up with until Stupid O'Clock in the morning watching re-runs of Shameless and This Life, talking about love, life, travel, football and the many merits of Guinness and Beer Lao as we open "just one more" bottle of red wine?

Who now am I going to tempt out for a We'll-Just-Pop-Out-For-One, But-Then-Again-Thursday-Is-The-New-Friday, Ooh-Look-They-Serve-Beer-Lao Drinking Session of Doom?

Who now am I going to wind up for arriving home plastered one night, putting a corn on the cob on the hob for a late night snack, promptly forgetting about it and passing out in bed, then waking up in the morning and grumpily enquiring if I'd "burnt the fecking toast?" upon entering the kitchen in which I was standing, in open-mouthed horror, examining the charred, smoking remains of my thankfully very robust (and hence very expensive) saucepan?

Who now is going to share my highs and lows with tea and wine sympathy, a caring ear, a shoulder to sniffle on and the incredible comfort of an awkward joke to hide absolute terror of having to say something grown up and helpful that is the true mark of a male friend?

Who now is going to do my abandoned piles of washing up when I go away for the weekend?

Seriously? Who?

*awaits*

:)