Private joke

At 3.30am, columnist Alan van der Lijn is watching Shrek with his friends.

A night out?

Give me the usual: a good meal beforehand, a crate, a beer for the road, a party, Jaffa, scrounging, an after-party. And tomorrow, blame the ORS for not working. But first, I’m still watching Shrek at 3.30am in a friend’s room. The three of us are lying on his bed. The core group is still awake. At least, if you don’t count my eyes closing.

The air conditioning coolly blows the smell of hastily made pasta around the room. I’m lucky with my host: I’ve swapped my going-out clothes for something comfortable from his wardrobe. I’m lying on the left-hand side of the bed in a warm hoodie, jogging bottoms and my own socks, which, unfortunately, are gradually developing holes.

Maybe that’s why I missed the last ten minutes of the film. Like the brief flicker on a television when you switch to another channel, I kept drifting off for a moment. On the one hand I’m lying here comfortably and want to sleep, on the other hand, I’m enjoying myself and want to stay awake. I think of that one Instagram reel where they said that ‘gezellig’ can’t be translated. I smile and turn over.

The room is quite student-like: two clothes rails, a table turned upside down and a floor covered with a dynamic arrangement of various items of clothing that are old, creased, dirty or, conversely, not dirty enough. The room also feels empty because there’s plenty of space for air, though perhaps that’s also because the walls and windows are poorly insulated.

I’m still struggling to stay awake. Let’s just watch for a little longer. I wonder if you can have FOMO about the moment you’re in. I wonder how cold it gets here in winter. And I wonder if you have to blow-dry your hair then, and whether you have to wear a vest to avoid catching a cold, as my mother made me do every winter when I was a child.

I laugh at that. My friends ask why.

A private joke, I reply.

And I catch myself thinking once again that it feels cosy here. Or do I only think that because I put on my lucky socks today?