Ok, so it's been a while since a post. Even longer since a decent one. But finally the big project at work is over, which means a return to sensible hours and time to blog once again. In honor of this new found freedom, we decided to head into London and celebrate with the coming together of alcohol and a comedy club.
Not wanting to waste precious time, we got into London for 3pm and headed straight to O'Neills, and found the first flaw in our plan. Naturally, being country folk as we are, we assumed that telling everyone to meet in O'Neills would be sufficient directions, not figuring on there being 3 O'Neills in the same district. Still, after a few calls we managed to get everyone together and get the drinks flowing pretty nicely.
As I have been suffering after previous nights out, I decided on a plan of attack for the night; pick a drink and stick with it for the night. As such, I decided to go with Vodka as my weapon of choice, and it was one that definitely paid off; although I lost count after about the 7th or 8th double, I know a pretty reasonable quantity was consumed, and no hangover the next morning! If you've got the stomach for neat vodka, I'd highly recommend it.
Also, since we could tell early on it was going to be a heavy night, I decided to take the sensible precaution of appointing two people to assist me throughout the evening, one in charge of my body, the other in charge of memory. I've found this is a system that works well, as all I have to worry about then is how much is in my wallet, where my drinks is, and how to use the toilet. Strictly speaking, toilet activity should come under the duty of the one in charge of my body, but they were having none of it.
As drinking on an empty stomach is never a good plan, we decided to head to Wagamamas for some food before continuing, strategically ignoring the fact that we'd had a KFC just a couple of hours earlier. If you've never been to Wagamamas, you must go. Now, if you have to. It really is great food, and usually comes in portions that will definitely not leave you wanting any more. It was also here that I was introduced to Sake, which somehow is something I've never tried before, but has instantly made my list of favourite drinks.
After the meal, it was onto The Comedy Store, just in time for happy hour of course, to see a lineup of 6 acts, pretty much all of which were very good. In particular I enjoyed the Aussie comedian who came up with the great line on immigrants in Britain:
"You lot charged round the world with your Empire, make them all speak English, then wonder why they followed you back!"
Ok, I'm terrible at repeating jokes, perhaps you'd have to be there, drunk, and British to appreciate the humor.
After the comedy club, things started to become a little hazy, and a few of us got separated. We vaguely remembered someone suggesting going to Waxy's, and decided to head there. After convincing the bouncer to let us in, and searching the whole place, we found we were actually in Waxy's Little Sister (resiting so much innuendo). Thankfully, we managed to get to the right bar after receiving a delightful text from one of my friends:
"Where are you you fuck?"
Let it not be said my friends are not without class and charm.
Details now get even more hazy, I'm still waiting for my friend in charge of memory to fill me in on the details, but at this point I'm not sure how her memory was doing either. So from this point, it's just a summary of highlights: Tequilla shots, photo shoot with the cameras, another round of Tequilla, conversation involving Amsterdam, clubs and pineapples, more vodka.
By now we were down to the last few people who were determined not to give up, and so headed onto a nightclub. I have no idea which, but somewhere near Leicester Square. Hopefully my memory buddy can fill me in on that one. I remember us all walking in as a group, heading to the bar, and instantly loosing each other. A few of us managed to regroup later, and I have memory of dancing, or at least something that could vaguely be called dancing, or possibly some kind of animal mating ritual. It's all the same really.
Afterwards, as we waited for the night bus back to Ealing, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat, and you really can't go wrong with a foot long meatball sub with cheese. Of course, I began to regret this decision when we got on the bus, since the girl in front of us looked in considerably worse shape, and was barely hanging to to whatever she'd been drinking that night. Although I was out of her range, I know my friend would offer a sympathetic barf if she was to blow, and was sat for half the journey in fear of being pebble dashed with meatballs.
Thankfully, we made it home intact, with the food continuing in the right direction, and although Sunday didn't start until around midday for us, there was no hangover the next morning. Score one for the Vodka!
So, I'm glad to be once again out and about, and actually having something to write about. Hopefully we can find some ways to fill the coming weekends as well, and stay tuned for the next post, hopefully in a few days, where I'll be giving some more detail on my attempt at the first of my resolutions for the new year!
