(no subject)

ALL OF THE SOCIALISING.

Last weekend Matt came to stay, which was really good fun. The temperature went from 'HOTTER THAN THE FOURTH CIRCLE OF HELL' to a more manageable second circle of hell, and we spent a lot of time drinking and chatting. On the Saturday night we went to Wong Keis. Depending on your viewpoint it's one of the worst tourist hellholes in Chinatown or actually very good value. Apparently the service used to be ruder, and quicker, but there we go. I rather like it. However, I forgot to ask for a fork so looked at the chopsticks and had a desperate bash at using the. Normally this ends in a sort of rice-based armageddon, but for the first time I actually managed to use them! Not much of an achievement given that the majority of the world's population have been using them for thousands of years, but still. Minor win for me!

Anyway, we had that, and then I had a busy week at work with pretty much no free time. Even on Friday when my manager kindly bought me lunch, it still meant I didn't have any time for myself! This was slightly problematic on the basis that I had rather a lot to prepare for this weekend, as it as loneraven's hen party, and I had sort of volunteered to organise it...

Luckily, Iona is an awesome person and at no point requested the proverbial weekend away in Blackpool, all wearing pink tutus with her face on. Had she requested this, we would have endeavoured to make it happen, but luckily she is a more classy lady than that. Thank goodness. Instead, I was tasked with making sure that people turned up and finding a drinking hole for the afternoon. So I sent out emails to people I only vaguely knew, found a pub that doubles up a gin distillery, and by 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon had headed out into the sultry London afternoon with Iona and Tali in tow. It was all going so well, with both Iona and Tali being able to make it on time for us to get ready together. We'd all managed to think independently of each other that a pretty dress was the way forward, and Tali had her epic hat on. Iona had her flashing 'BRIDE TO BE' badge on.

Imagine my dismay when it turned out that the gin distillery was CLOSED FOR A PRIVATE PARTY. ALAS. Katy - who I met once before at Ionas birthday party - was already there. I flailed a bit on the basis that my knowledge on that bit of London is strictly based around pubs, and this was totally a cocktail type of evening. We strode off in the direction of Covent Garden anyway, and then glory hallelujah we found a bar that was doing happy hour on cocktails. It was a very good move - the place was air conditioned, classy, and had some very nice cocktails indeed. Over the next few hours Maria and Amy arrived, and despite it being a disparate group of people I felt we all got on very well indeed, cackling laughter and fruity drinks and theories in pon farr. Basically GOOD TIMES.

The end of happy hour coincided with when we were going to the restaurant I'd booked anyway, so we walked as quickly as we could through the surprise pouring rain. We went to fire and Stone, where I've been a few times. Imagine our mild surprise to see that apparently it was Hen Party Central, with three - three! - other hen parties, all of the strictly pink variety. We felt awesome in comparison, and ate lots of yummy pizza, drank prosecco, and marvelled at Maria's amazing breast milk skills. (In the toilets. You know, we're classy.)

Basically, it was a lovely night. Alas, we had to say goodbye, and Iona, Tali and I headed back to the tube. When we got home we were greeted very drunk Richie and Fiona, which was... surreal.

So that was my weekend! I think Iona had a good time, which is what counts. I do feel very guilty though, because today is tau_sigma's birthday and I TOTALLY FORGOT and she was in my house today and I am an AWFUL FRIEND. Sorry, Tali! I wILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU. (I mean, I did say 'happy birthday' ad all that, but I wish I had rememberd to get her a card to open. Argh, guilty.)

In my next post - fandom, or Why Pacific Rim Is Awesome and a hope for some crowdsourcing ideas on Navigation Officer Darwin...

(no subject)

ALL OF THE SOCIALISING.

Last weekend Matt came to stay, which was really good fun. The temperature went from 'HOTTER THAN THE FOURTH CIRCLE OF HELL' to a more manageable second circle of hell, and we spent a lot of time drinking and chatting. On the Saturday night we went to Wong Keis. Depending on your viewpoint it's one of the worst tourist hellholes in Chinatown or actually very good value. Apparently the service used to be ruder, and quicker, but there we go. I rather like it. However, I forgot to ask for a fork so looked at the chopsticks and had a desperate bash at using the. Normally this ends in a sort of rice-based armageddon, but for the first time I actually managed to use them! Not much of an achievement given that the majority of the world's population have been using them for thousands of years, but still. Minor win for me!

Anyway, we had that, and then I had a busy week at work with pretty much no free time. Even on Friday when my manager kindly bought me lunch, it still meant I didn't have any time for myself! This was slightly problematic on the basis that I had rather a lot to prepare for this weekend, as it as loneraven's hen party, and I had sort of volunteered to organise it...

Luckily, Iona is an awesome person and at no point requested the proverbial weekend away in Blackpool, all wearing pink tutus with her face on. Had she requested this, we would have endeavoured to make it happen, but luckily she is a more classy lady than that. Thank goodness. Instead, I was tasked with making sure that people turned up and finding a drinking hole for the afternoon. So I sent out emails to people I only vaguely knew, found a pub that doubles up a gin distillery, and by 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon had headed out into the sultry London afternoon with Iona and Tali in tow. It was all going so well, with both Iona and Tali being able to make it on time for us to get ready together. We'd all managed to think independently of each other that a pretty dress was the way forward, and Tali had her epic hat on. Iona had her flashing 'BRIDE TO BE' badge on.

Imagine my dismay when it turned out that the gin distillery was CLOSED FOR A PRIVATE PARTY. ALAS. Katy - who I met once before at Ionas birthday party - was already there. I flailed a bit on the basis that my knowledge on that bit of London is strictly based around pubs, and this was totally a cocktail type of evening. We strode off in the direction of Covent Garden anyway, and then glory hallelujah we found a bar that was doing happy hour on cocktails. It was a very good move - the place was air conditioned, classy, and had some very nice cocktails indeed. Over the next few hours Maria and Amy arrived, and despite it being a disparate group of people I felt we all got on very well indeed, cackling laughter and fruity drinks and theories in pon farr. Basically GOOD TIMES.

The end of happy hour coincided with when we were going to the restaurant I'd booked anyway, so we walked as quickly as we could through the surprise pouring rain. We went to fire and Stone, where I've been a few times. Imagine our mild surprise to see that apparently it was Hen Party Central, with three - three! - other hen parties, all of the strictly pink variety. We felt awesome in comparison, and ate lots of yummy pizza, drank prosecco, and marvelled at Maria's amazing breast milk skills. (In the toilets. You know, we're classy.)

Basically, it was a lovely night. Alas, we had to say goodbye, and Iona, Tali and I headed back to the tube. When we got home we were greeted very drunk Richie and Fiona, which was... surreal.

So that was my weekend! I think Iona had a good time, which is what counts. I do feel very guilty though, because today is tau_sigma's birthday and I TOTALLY FORGOT and she was in my house today and I am an AWFUL FRIEND. Sorry, Tali! I wILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU. (I mean, I did say 'happy birthday' ad all that, but I wish I had rememberd to get her a card to open. Argh, guilty.)

In my next post - fandom, or Why Pacific Rim Is Awesome and a hope for some crowdsourcing ideas on Navigation Officer Darwin...