12/10/2020
JUST BE LEKKER
--A STORY OF BEER, FRIENDS AND SMACK TALK--
We have all been there. Itās Friday afternoon, you just finished work, and are in a mad rush to buy supplies for the braai tonight. You join the 12-deep cashierās line at an understaffed Spar, anxious and fidgety because your mates will be ringing your doorbell in 15 minutes and you arenāt even home yet, let alone clean and/or fresh-smelling. Ahead of you in the line is an old friend, who you havenāt seen in a while. You both notice each other at the same time, and while you greet, you run through the hundred times the two of you have had the ādude we must organise a braaiā conversation. The feeling, awkward. The talk, small. And you make some bullsh*t plan, for the hundred-and-first time, knowing full well that it wonāt be honoured. And you spend the next 5-50 minutes in that line talking about the weather, or the government, or Cell C, or how ābusyā you are (special pet peeve of mine), until the inevitable ākeep in touch!ā before you p**s off and forget, again, that this convo ever even happened.
There are many reasons for this, but not one of those reasons are because you donāt want to have that braai. You do, but life as we know it is so f*cked, that we are required to plan strategically if you want to ever have a hope of seeing all your friends more than once every 6 months. So you invite groups of people to a braai (several birds, one stone type of mission). But yet, itās been two years and neither of you have registered so much as a blip either otherās radars.
Itās sad.
There is a solution to this dilemma though, and itās been under our noses all along. One doesnāt need a long time to catch up or stay in touch. A beer or two can be enough to keep that spark alive.
Drum roll pleaseā¦..*Enters ā BEER FRIDAY*ā¦.
Letās make this easy. Itās only a couple of beers. No need to dress up fancy, or prepare ābykosā or any of that mission. Just have a standing date (in this case, the 1st Friday of every month), and bring your beer. There are a few other implicit requirements (which I will get to in a bit), but other than that, what more do you want? You come for 1 beer, or 10, who cares? Itās a Friday afternoon, and you get to catchup with your peeps, or meet some new ones. And there is no implicit āminimumā amount of time to spend. If you have just a few minutes for one beer, then so be it. Thatās enough for a couple of handshakes and a dirty joke. Easy peazyā¦ If you stay longer, you might get to hear about someoneās new job, or house, or crack habit.
Beer is as old as the human race, and the majority of its use has been social. No need to fix what aināt broken, ne?
So letās have a look at the recipe. I have four simple rules:
1. BYOB (Bring your own beer). Special events with free beer might come around once in a while, but out of courtesy, you bring your own anyway.
2. Everybody is welcome. This can be a tough one to get to grips with, as there is always a k**b at every party. Tip-of-the-day: if you canāt find the k**b, maybe you should leaveā¦
3. Snacks are for everyone: If you bring snacks (and you should), they automatically become the property of Beer Friday, and are no longer under your control.
4. Donāt be a tool, just be lekker. This one needs no explanation, except that ātoolā wasnāt my first choice of wordā¦
And for a bit of spice, some old-school smack-talk is also encouraged. Donāt be so sensitive bru. Save your internet muscles for shi*t that matters. Beer Friday gives zero f*cks about your opinion.
There it is. It couldnāt be simpler. And donāt complicate it with your crap. If you donāt drink beer, it doesnāt matter. Itās called Beer Friday, but in case you havenāt noticed, beer is not the point. Your friends are. Beer is just f*cking amazingā¦
