Brighton Station, Just Before Midnight

I met Em at Brighton station last night at midnight, thanks to her odd propensity for catching the latest train she can (she had been up to Bristol for a couple of days). I caught the bus from the Mews all the way to Brighton station for free - thanks to a bus pass someone had happily given me at work that was no longer needed.
It was the first night of the Easter holidays, and Brighton had turned into a simulacrum of the last days of Rome. Drunk people swaggered about swearing. Various shouts and screams were heard (even in the bus) from various points. At a junction down Western Road, a car had crashed into a taxi. Sirens and onlookers. On the bus, a group of three lads talked loudly about nothing in particular and didn't notice.
I got to Brighton Station with twenty five minutes to spare. W.H.Smiths was closed. The coffee stall was closed. I waited in the main area listening to the Sad Lovers and Giants album 'The Mirror Test (Redux)' and wishing I still smoked or that it was warm enough (it was freezing) to drink the can of Diet Coke I had in my bag. Trains came in, disgorging swarms of people who all seemed to a)be from London (or maybe Crawley) and b)were engaging in some kind of loud and aggressive chanting. The latter - football chants presumably - had an oddly medieval quality to them as they echoed through the main station concourse.
Someone came up to me, whom I didn't immediately recognise. A young guy - late teens or early twenties maybe, carrying a skateboard. 'I don't know if you remember me...' he began. It turned out I did remember him. He used to come into the petrol station when I worked there, always expressing an interest in whatever music I was playing. I ended up doing a compilation tape of 1980s hardcore / punk bands for him (Carnivore, Septic Death, Die Kreuzen). He said that the tape had had quite an influence on his listening habits. 'Must have been about eight years ago' he said. It was nice he remembered me - and the tape I did him. I wondered how he recognised me - I looked completely different back then, thin, with short hair and no beard.
We wished each other well.
I waited for Em to Arrive.