Flying Home

I did almost no work today, as I was running around like a mad person trying to get everything done before I had to leave. My ill-considered decision the night before not to leave at a rational hour had definitely caught up with me.

In the end, I left the house for the airport at 2:15, when I should have been at the airport at 2:30. Given that boarding closes 60 minutes before the flight, that meant if I didn't check in by 3:35, I would miss my flight. It was 3:20 when the train finally pulled into the Underground station at Heathrow, and I absolutely ran as fast as I could through the maze of tunnels and moving walkways, in a mad sweat about missing my flight.

I raced up to the automated check-in terminals, got help from a customer representative standing there, but then after I got through the entire check-in process, the machine failed to print out my boarding card! So then I had to go up to the desk anyway, waiting frantically while they served tons of other customers but never calling me. Finally I did get someone's attention and a boarding card, although I don't think I stopped shaking until it was in my hands.

Still I was in a bit of a rush, but thankful that my Priority Access meant that I could join the "by invitation only" super-fast security line. Except when I got to the scanner, it was as though the group of men ahead of me had never been on a plane before. It wasn't until they were at the front of the line (holding everyone else up) that they then started to prove tons of pens and coins from their pockets, seeming surprised every time the security person would ask them to remove yet another piece of metal from their person. Finally one guy walked through with his watch still on! What blew me away was that this was on the super-fast security line that is reserved for frequent fliers, so why on earth were these guys acting like they'd never been on an airplane before? I hope they dragged them aside for a very invasive pat-down, making them very late for their flight...

Admittedly I ran into my own problems, with several jars of goose fat and some lemon curd that I'd purchased before running to the airport being confiscated by security. Luckily I had other jars of goose fat elsewhere in my luggage that they didn't find, but that's a lesson learned for you: Apparently even if something is solid, if it can be "heated to change shape", it's considered a liquid. Thanks for making the rules so clear (not!)

Finally I get to the plane and it's time to board, where I'm once again grateful to have Priority Access, which allows me to get on the plane with all of the First and Business Class people. The gate agents were also being quite strict about it, but then again, why were people who weren't supposed to board until Group 4 (pretty late in the process) even trying for early boarding? I suppose I'd be more sympathetic if they had kids or something, but it was just pushy people hoping that the gate agent wasn't paying attention. I flew thousands of miles for the privledge I have when flying, so I was inordinately pleased when the gate agent noticed and turned them back.

The flight itself continued to be a comedy of errors by people who seem to have never been on an airplane before in their lives. As soon as the plane took off and was still climbing, one guy tried to stand up and get something out of the overhead bin, earning an instantaneous sharp rebuke on the loudspeaker, "Sit down, NOW!" Everyone knew who the flight attendant was talking about. Additionally, a woman sitting in the row in front of me attempted to use the lavatory in First Class, additionally earning an informative announcement over the louspeaker. Seriously lady, did you pay attention to the announcements at the start of the flight at all?

The flight continued to provide interest when one of the fight attendance got on the loudspeaker and asked, "Is there a doctor on board? We are currently experiencing a medical emergency, and we request that any health professional who is able to provide assistance identify themselves to the cabin crew." Then a whole bunch of people raced towards the back of the plane with emergency medical equipment, but there were curtains back there, so I have no idea what was going on. We were right over Iceland at the time, so I figure that if it had been a real medical emergency, we would have landed in Iceland, yet we kept flying. When we landed as well, there was no mention of the medical incident, so I guess everything was fine.

It was a bit of a rough landing, with high winds making the plane bank quite precipitously before we came in for landing. I was rather surprised at how much we tipped back and forth as we came in, but once we landed we had to hold up at the end of the runway for other planes, where I could see that everybody was fighting the wind as they came in to land.

When I landed and was off the plane, I called my parents, who were apparently somewhere still on the highway somewhere outside of the airport. I then made it through immigration, where the immigration official joked with me about how my "white Christmas" was more likely to be slushy and grey. Still, immigration officials are always so serious, it was nice to get one who still had a bit of a sense of humour...

Finally, after waiting in the arrivals lounge for about 20 minutes, my parents rang my cell phone. They were there! So I ran outside and joined my parents, happy to be home for Christmas!!

The Difficulty of Leaving Early

I went into the office for a meeting today, which turned out to be rather awkward as the other side hadn't prepared for it at all, so I basically fired questions at them, but they really had nothing for me. Made me wonder why we'd been meeting in the first place? If you can't be bothered to prepare for a meeting, please don't waste my time...

Yet, there was a bonus about being in the office, in that I got to catch up with my friends Nat and Dave. We all grabbed lunch together in the company cafeteria, and mostly spent the time talking about proposed office closures and forcing people to work from home more. Dave couldn't see how it could be done, but having seen people work remotely in the US so much, I think that's the direction we're headed in. Dave will just have to learn to adjust, I think!

After work, I was supposed to go running, but Nat talked me into going to drinks with a printing company they use instead. It was a Northern Irish guy (with a really thick accent!), two women from the printing company, and another woman from Accenture. It was a nice enough time as the printing company was covering the cost of drinks, so I felt a bit badly that I wasn't someone who really used their printing services. But it was some fun conversation, and interesting to talk to everyone about their holiday plans. The guy had a 4-year old son who was spending the holidays with his mother, although it made me think about how he otherwise looked like a good catch of a guy, but how hard must it be to date a guy with kids? Scary to think that I might be moving into that demographic bracket, but I really wouldn't want to go there...

Finally, after drinks, I figured I should go to the run and collect money from people, but I swore to myself that I would just do that and then skedaddle early, for I was leaving for New York the next morning and had not yet packed. So I made it to the pub and learned that the runners were not yet back, yet I ran into two other absolutely tedious elderly women from the club who had also not run. Spent ages making mild small-talk with them, and trying to figure out how I could escape the boredom.

I was at this point absolutely convinced of my theory that I was going to depart for home at the next readily available opportunity, when Matt showed up.

Matt is one of my favourite people in the entire world, and more than that, I seem to be one of his favourite people in the entire world too. And it's such a wonderful feeling, to see someone you'd like to talk to walk into the room, see their face light up when they spot you on the other side of the room, and watch their polite-yet-casually-disinterested dismissal of people attempting to impede their progress as they make their way to your side. And you reunite with a giant bear hug and find yourself happily ensconced in conversation for the rest of the evening.

Until this point I had avoided drinking at all, as I'd wanted to be clear-headed and ready to go home and pack (when I left early, remember?) Yet when Matt offered to buy me a drink, he did it in such a way in that there was no real point even trying to refuse, as it was just going to happen anyway. So he brought me a drink and we talked for a while, agreed to go outside and watch the down-downs, and then came back inside to keep on talking. As we finished our first drinks, I figured it only fair that I buy our next round, and so we kept talking.

It was funny at one point Matt noted that the group next to us was having a conversation about cancer, whilst we were talking about doing the "Walk of Shame". I asked if he'd rather that we join the other group and talk about something more serious, to which Matt laughed and replied, "God no! I'd much rather keep talking to you about sex!" Yet lest you think we have terrible conversational habits, we did talk about the appeal of academia vs business, living in the country vs the city and visiting our old friends who have never left our hometowns, and our family Christmas traditions as we prepared to go home.

Even at the point where we were now a drink-for-drink and should have just called it a night (I still needed to go home and pack), when Matt, obviously enjoying our conversation, asked, "One more for the road?", who was I to say no? Still, I was surprised when, after my determination to "leave early", it was past 11 PM and we were being ushered upstairs as they were closing the pub cellars. Was it that late already?

Once upstairs, I was DETERMINED at this point to be leaving, when one of the guys bought a bottle of champagne (why? I have no idea), and insisted on passing out glasses of champagne to everyone. Now anybody who knows me knows that champagne is my HUGE weakness, and so of course I couldn't resist taking a glass of champagne (plus, it seemed rude not to). Yet I was realising that it was getting quite late, and Matt seemed antsy to be leaving, so I handed him my glass of champagne and told him, "Please make inroads on this while I visit the loo so that we can finish and leave." I spoke so quickly, I wasn't quite sure he understood, until I got back from the loo and my champagne was nearly all gone. What a brilliant boy, he must have ESP!

Hence I downed the last of the champagne, and we said our good-byes to everyone, as Princess made some snide comment about the two of us leaving together, which I didn't appreciate but Matt took with good grace and joked about.

We chatted all of the way to the Tube, again re-iterated intentions to get together in the New Year, and then kissed and parted with wishes for a very Merry Christmas. I dashed to the Tube and found the train just leaving as I arrived on the platform, but I absolutely bounded the short distance to the closing doors, and leapt inside the train just as the doors shut and the train pulled away. Okay, so I didn't leave early, but at least one thing had worked right towards getting me home at a reasonable hour!

Dinner with Easy Rider and Nigel

On Saturday morning, I woke up to find that my flatmate was still sick, and since she was due to leave for her family holiday that day, packed her off to the local walk-in clinic to see if there was anything they could do for her.

My friends who always host me in Edinburgh, Easy Rider and her partner Nigel, were due to come stay with me for the evening, and so they told me they would be at my place at noon to drop off their things before we all had to go out for our various lunch obligations.

Despite that they arrived right at noon, making me a bit late for my lunch departure, when I arrived a half-hour late nobody seemed any the worse for it.

I was at my friend Ali's place, where his girlfriend Nicola was making lunch for all of us. (Ali I'm sure would have pitched in more, if he wasn't feeling so thoroughly rotten and under the weather). My friend Will was there (the chap who had been so helpful with the mulled wine at my open house party), along with Tim (my erstwhile houseguest, who was now in Oxford, but I guess had come down to London for the day), and Toby and Emily (my hosts for the luncheon the week prior). In addition to those I knew, there was James, a young man who was in seminary, studying to be a preacher, although almost finished I take it, with an ordination scheduled for the spring. As well there was Tom, a nice-seeming chap, and some other random guy who left early before we sat down for lunch.

Admittedly "sitting down" for lunch is perhaps a weird way to phrase it, for instead of sitting at the table, Nic dished the lunch out onto plates, and we all sat on couches, eating them on our laps. I mean, there were chairs and a table, what was up with that? I really didn't get it.

After lunch, someone suggested that we take an afternoon constitutional, which made me terribly regret not having remembered to bring my hat. Goodness was it cold out! I spent most of my time just talking to Ali about this and that, as I always love the chance to catch up with him. It was interesting talking to the seminarian about the differences between a vicar and other types of clergy, just those things that you never really think to ask until you have an excellent resource like that right in front of you.

Finally it was getting late (only about 4 PM, but the setting sun had us thinking it was later), and after discovering that Tom was headed in the same direction I was, we decided to take a bus back to Shepherd's Bush together. I said my goodbyes to Tim, and unlike when he first left for Australia, it was just a rushed good-bye, I think we've suffered a bit too much in each other's company on this trip.

On my way home I decided to quickly nip by the Betty Blythe cafe for eggs, and it was really lovely how warm and cozy the cafe seemed on such a bitterly cold winter's night. I really wanted to just stay there with a cup of tea for a while, but it was really time to get home!

When I arrived, my flatmate was still sick but thankfully sleeping, due to some cough syrup they'd given her at the walk-in clinic. (She'd been waking me up with her coughing in the middle of the night, which I didn't really mind, but I'm guessing means she hadn't slept properly in days).

Nigel and Easy Rider arrived back from their lunch appointment, and so we changed and went out to dinner at my club. We ran into Alex, the guy I'd met at the club a few weeks ago who was a re-incarnated llama. He was having his traditional "Christmas drinks" with his friends there at the club and invited us to join him, but I said we were going to go for dinner first, and then we would join them afterwards.

We had a lovely dinner, and Easy Rider and Nigel really seemed to enjoy the club. I was sort of wondering how they would take to it, given that they are very much outdoorsy-type people, not the folks who typically get dressed up in suits and ties. Yet they really seemed to enjoy it, and when Easy Rider spotted the cheese board coming around, just about died with happiness.

I then did with them what I do with all guests, and took them on a tour of the club. We ended up grabbing chairs in the silent library by the fire and just chatting for a while (ironic in the "Silent Library", I know). But given that anyone who passed by assumed that we were in there and being silent, they passed us by, and so we had a nice, cozy spot in our big leather chairs by the fire to just sit and talk.

We eventually ended up back at the bar, and I thought that it was getting late (I was exhausted!) and that Easy Rider and Nigel would want to go home, but they surprised me by insisting that they were up for staying later and taking a cab home. So we joined Alex and his friends (goodness, they were so young, many just 22 or still in school, joking with Easy Rider and Nigel, who are nearly 40!), but everyone seemed to get along brilliantly. We made a lot of jokes about XKCD comics, and they seemed to enjoy the conversation.

When we finally left around 1 AM, it began to snow, and I thought we'd have no chance of finding a cab. But once pulled up very quickly, and just £17 later, we were back home. Compared to walking in the cold and snow, I had to praise Nigel for suggesting we stay late and just take a cab. What a brilliant idea!

Hurlingham Ball

It's really such a pity. This is why I had so desperately wanted to see the 25-Year Old instead of constantly exchanging messages back-and-forth, as it's only when you meet up in person, I think, that you can tell if that elusive trait of "chemistry" is there. And tonight, at last, when I saw him? Oh dear. He really seemed lovely and sweet and all those nice things, but oh so terribly awkward and shy in person. And as I looked around at all of the possibilities, and all the fun times that awaited, I definitely was left with this sense that "A super-extrovert like yourself can't just be tied to this."

But I'd set out with the intention of having a good time, and I definitely accomplished that. I feel like 2 AM has never come around quite so quickly, I was having such a good time at the ball.

First, I was absolutely useless at work, as I basically was just thinking about how I was going to do my hair and getting ready for the ball. I think I finally just gave up even trying to pretend to work (although I was helped by my old roommate Jess, who called for a Skype chat, and we had a lovely time just "hanging out" together whilst I did my hair and she organized her room. Skype is lovely that way!)

Pinning flowers in my hair proved to be more difficult than I'd thought it would be, for while I accomplished the hairstyle readily enough, the flowers turned out to be quite heavy and prone to falling out. I snapped two stems attempting to get the flowers into my hair, and eventually realised that I needed to use my super-heavy metal vice clips to hold the flowers in place, and then cover them over with curls. All of this nonsense that you read about people just "sticking flowers in their hair" is just that, as it was really quite difficult to get the flowers to stay in place! Yet in the end, I finally managed it, and then hairsprayed my hair in place until it was practically shellacked. Still, hairspray is marvellous stuff like that...

I caught a cab to the event, which at £10 was excellent value. Once there, I immediately ran into Doro (girl I knew from Magdalene), and also saw Brian and Carolyn (a couple that I've gotten to know from all of these events). I saw the 25-Year Old and came over to say hello, and got that first sinking feeling that the chemistry just wasn't there. Apparently that kiss really had come about as the result of too much whiskey. {Sigh!} I also ran into the Scottish guy I'd ended up crashing on a floor with, and he almost acted like he didn't remember that we'd met that night at all. How silly is it, that when boys don't know what to say to you, they just pretend they don't know you? Anyway, I ended up talking to one of the girls he was talking to, who absolutely loved the roses in my hair.

Before too long, it was time to find our seats, and I found myself seated at a table with a whole bunch of army guys. I hadn't realised quite how much it was the done thing to just buy whole tables for this event, as I was the only singleton in the midst of two complete groups.

I ended up sitting inbetween a chap names Peter and one named Tom, both ex-army from Nottingham. Pete was cuter, but Tom had better chat, although all of the army boys seemed a bit too into getting much too drunk throughout the evening (keeping a bottle of wine by their chairs, filling the glasses to the very brim). They were amusing enough company throughout dinner, but did alarm me a bit with their insistence on banging on the table instead of applauding the speeches (nearly sent all of my cutlery flying), and just being generally loud and raucous.

Admittedly it was good entertainment when the boys tried to convince all of the tables around us to participate in singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas", having each table stand up and sing each verse (with our table doing "the partridge in a pear tree", of course). We managed to get up to seven days of Christmas before one table (where every member, btw, had arrived late) finked out and the whole thing fell apart. Oh, how I abhor people who can't just get into the spirit of the fun of these things!

It was funny then when Brian (Carolyn's boyfriend, a chap I've gotten to know through these random events), came over to say to me, "Of course you would be sitting at the rowdy table, Adrian!!" I had to laugh at that one...

After dessert was finished, I quickly made my way away from the army boys and went to try and find Brian and Carolyn, just to have an excuse to have a different conversation. I was then quite surprised when I ran into Michael Scott, an old friend from Magdalene College, Cambridge, on my way around the tables, and ended up talking with him, his girlfriend, his brother, and a guy I recognized from Cambridge. It was a nice chat, and good to see them.

Michael then ended up dragging me out on the dance floor, which was good fun for a bit. Good songs like "I've Got A Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, and old S-Club 7 classics. I then ran into the 25-Year Old, and took a walk with him, convincing him to take a turn on the "Bucking Rudolf" game they had going, much like a mechanical bull in a bar. I suppose I was spending time with him desperately hoping to feel chemistry, but there was nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I then ended up back on the dance floor and circulating around with other groups, running into more Magdalene people from Doro's group, and ending up with lots of people buying me drinks. It was just a lot of circulating, talking to various people, and having a good time.

After a while, I ran into Doro and a few friends sitting at one of the tables over on the side, and so ended up just sitting chatting to them for a bit. It was as I was sitting there that I spotted Neighbour Guy, and his face lit up with instant recognition the moment he saw me. So I ended up talking to him for a while, before he pulled me over to talk to his friends.

As he introduced me to one of his friends saying, "This is Swifty", I nearly fainted with shock. I said, "Swifty? Did you play polo at La Mariposa down in Argentina two years ago?"

It was the same guy!! So we had a great time chatting and catching up, talking about all that had happened in the past two years, and talking about polo of course, as two polo people are apt to do. As it turns out, Swifty was one of Neighbour Guy's best friends. I was just stunned at the incredible connection of it all, as what are the chances that I would run into a guy I once played polo with on the other side of the world at a ball like that, and he would be the best friend of Neighbour Guy? I think choruses of "It's a Small World After All" should start playing now...

Neighbour Guy was concerned about his other friend, who we'll refer to as the "Distressingly Short Guy." Apparently he was one of those classic friends that everyone has. You know the ones, completely non-confident with the opposite sex, who you drag out to parties and things in the hopes that they'll have a good time, because you are a good friend who tries your best to help out your friends. But alas, you spend most of the party fretting about whether or not they are having a good time.

Once we found Distressingly Short Guy, it was all too obvious why he was one of those non-confident guys, which was probably related to his height. I did have a funny conversation with Distressingly Short Guy about how I'd thought Neighbour Guy was quite handsome and charming when I first met him, but he'd never followed up. Although as I spoke to Neighbour Guy in later conversation, it turns out that Neighbour Guy swore he'd never received my party invitation or half my messages. What's up with that? Apparently he's bad with e-mail, and really is a texting type of person. (And then in a related note, on Sunday I found his business card and texted him. Wouldn't you know it? He responded within 5 seconds, saying he'd been looking for my number that same morning. I guess it really is all about picking the right communication medium for the right person...)

Anyway, I do hope that Distressingly Short Guy won't say anything to Neighbour Guy that would embarrass me, but so you have it. Distressingly Short Guy did at one point drag me back into conversation with Neighbour Guy, saying, "I think you need to talk about rugby", and we did indeed get into a conversation about the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, as that's when I'd first been in England and fallen in love with both the sport and the country. As it turns out, Neighbour Guy had actually been present in Australia for that fateful final game. Although I was a bit puzzled, wondering, "How on earth did Distressingly Short Guy know that I was into rugby?" Seems like quite an extraordinary coincidence or just a particularly good guess.

I spent the rest of the evening mostly talking to Neighbour Guy, chatting with other friends, and eventually spent the final part of the evening just dancing around with various friends, and ended up with Brian (guy who I'd met at these other events) absolutely insisting that he and Carolyn be able to take me to dinner at the RAC on Tuesday. He seemed a bit tipsy at the time, so my hope is that he forgets about it and we can just do it in the New Year, as I think I'm completely partied out. I did catch sight of Neighbour Guy slow dancing with another girl, so what to make of that? Although then again, I'm a total flirt with other men at these parties when I don't know what the men around me are thinking, so perhaps that's all it signifies...

So then at 2 AM (how did it arrive so quickly?) I ran into Neighbour Guy as everyone was collecting their coats, and asked, "Are you going back to Sinclair Road?" Indeed he was, and offered me a lift in his cab. So I stuck with him, and we did indeed catch a cab, although since he insisted on putting on seatbelts, quite far apart from one another (although it was sensible, I know). He actually spent most of the ride quizzing the driver about how much he likes the cab company and his working conditions, which I found interesting, since I almost never talk to cab drivers (or the hired help of any kind really at all). Perhaps I should more however, although I somehow think it's different when a man makes conversation with the male cab driver rather than me.

The fare was only £7.50, but Neighbour Guy gave him £10 anyway, saying that the cabbie should drive me around up to my house (as Sinclair Road is one-way at the very end by where Neighbour Guy lives). I found that just silly and said I would walk, so Neighbour Guy then insisted on walking me to my door. So when we got there, I invited him in for a cup of tea. He seemed to enjoy poking around the place, trying Lady Grey tea, and just chit-chatting about nothing in particular.

And as I sat there however, curled up on the couch with him, it was all so confusing: Here was a guy I really liked, and who I'd invited into my house at 3 AM, something I don't do with ANY man. And yet, as we sat there, I've also never felt quite so relaxed and at ease in someone's company. And even as he laughed at my jokes and talked on for ages, he told me that he's just started seeing someone, although at such early days he wasn't sure how it was going to work out. Apparently started seeing her right after we'd met at the Reverse Dinner. And I wondered, "Is this whole thing not going to work out due to simple timing?"

Yet at the same time, he was so insistent that we needed to do drinks at his place, to have a drink at one of our local pubs, and to do dinner at our respective clubs, already I'm thinking we'll be seeing a lot of each other. And at the end of the day, I realise it's a perfect set-up: He likes me, and I like him. And yet, it's a chance to really just get to know one another with all of the pressure off. Because ever since I first met him, I just have a funny feeling that I'm going to like this guy. It's going to be interesting to see what happens next...

Christmas Carols

I came into the office for the HR Coffee Break that was happening, and also just to get out of the flat and give my flatmate a chance to rest (as she has been quite sick recently). And then as I was talking to people during the coffee break, they mentioned that after work that evening was the Accenture Christian Fellowship Christmas Carol service. Given that I've been very lame about making it to church so far this Advent season, I thought, "Why not go along?"

I walked with two other women from the office down a small winding cobblestone street near the office all lit up with Christmas lights, and came around a corner to enter this ancient old stone cathedral church, right in the middle of London. We walked in, and instantly I was hit by the smell of incense, and we took our seats in the old wooden pews on the left side of the church. I was actually surprised by how many people there were, easily about 150 people from the company in attendance. I had to wonder to myself, "I wonder if this sort of thing would ever happen at a US office?" After all, as much as you try to have an ecumenical service, there's always everyone's various brands of Protestantism, but here it basically is just understood that everyone is CoE. Makes things simple, in a way, to have a state church!

The service was really lovely, singing classic carols like Silent Night and The First Noel. There were readings by various Accenture employees, and I even recognized the Senior Executive in charge of Human Capital Strategy giving one of the gospel readings. My mind was pretty much blown by this, as well as by the large numbers of rather cute, fit, young men in attendance. Perhaps I need to start going to church more? Although I did giggle a bit at the prayers, where in addition to the usual petitions for peace on earth, food for the hungry and comfort to the suffering, they also offered our "thanks and gratitude for the privilege of being able to work at Accenture." Seriously? Did we just give thanks to God for our company? You've got to be kidding me.

The sermon was given by the husband of my HR Rep, although it was only halfway through the sermon that it dawned on me, "Hey, that guy has the same last name as Lucy!" It was a nice sermon, a bit academic, although I did get a laugh at one line where he talked about the Magnificat, and the line that "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away."

Of course, when talking to people who are unquestionably wealthy (as we are), I think it's always a tricky thing, but the vicar made the good point that Jesus enjoyed the hospitality of many rich men during his life, but they were noted for being humble and grateful for the blessings they enjoyed, and eager to share them. He then quoted the famous American preacher Dwight L. Moody that "God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves".

I'd never heard that quote before, and absolutely loved it. And as I sat there, I just reflected once again at the extraordinary good fortune I enjoy in my life, and thought about how important it is to not get hung up on what we do not have or the short-comings of our lives, but simply to marvel at all the blessings we enjoy. And so I just sat there in the pew, doing what we so often do in yoga class, which is to "send love out to into the universe". Okay, so I have no wish to give up the blessings of my life, but I would do well to remain humble and grateful for the extraordinary life I have.

After the service, we all gathered drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies, and I was so surprised when my friend Nat was there! She's always one of my favourite people to see, so it was great to see her and get a chance to catch up for a bit, and make plans for lunch on Tuesday. Lucy's husband handed out copies of a book he had (I'll have to read it at some point), and I stayed far too late chatting with random people (why can I never extract myself from social situations?), before finally heading home.

And then as I went, I passed a Tesco, and thought to myself, "Why not pop in and check out the flowers?" You see, I'd had this brilliant idea to put red roses in my hair for the ball the next day, but was then horrified to get to the grocery store yesterday and find that they had no red roses! And none of the stores I'd checked since then had them either!

Wouldn't you know it? That little store had one bunch of dozen red roses in a perfect dark red colour, and they were even marked down to £2 because they were about to go off. Sometimes the extraordinary coincidences and good fortune of my life amaze even me. So perhaps it was God's little way of smiling at me and saying, "Go to church and see what you get?" It's funny how sometimes things work out perfectly like that...

Snow!

What is it about snow? When it rains, nobody ever runs to the window to shout, "It's raining!", but when the water comes down from the sky in little frozen flakes, rather than simple water droplets, it inspires almost magical awe and wonder. I always remember in school, there was always the first kid who would be looking out the window, and shout out to the entire class, "It's snowing!" And that was an indulgence that even the teacher would allow, as everyone rushed to the window to watch the dancing, floating flakes fall from the sky.

In the end, it was only a dusting of snow, but it gave London a magical look for a few hours. I'd big good-bye to Tim that morning, and then spent the afternoon on conference calls with the snow behind me out the window. Sometimes it just makes your day, to be sitting inside curled up on a snow day.

Freezing Run

I had an in-person meeting today, so I came into the office, but was surprised to find a man sitting at the desk I had reserved. Remembering how my friends had admonished me previously for not insisting on having the desk that I'd reserved (and also because I had no idea where else to sit), I gently informed the guy that he was in my seat. He then insisted that he'd reserved that desk, only to realise after he checked that he'd reserved a desk in the red section, but was seated in the yellow section. He asked if I'd be willing to sit in the desk that he was supposed to be sitting in, which was fine with me, I just needed a desk! So he showed me where the other desk was, and so I finally got to sit down and settle in. So you can imagine my annoyance then after all of that trouble and effort, to find that the meeting had been cancelled, just half an hour before it was due to begin!

Still, as I was pondering my annoyance over this fact, I spotted a familiar looking head of grey hair sitting two rows of desks in front of me. So I grabbed him on IM and asked, "Princess, turn around. Is that you?"

When he did, it turned out that indeed, it was! (Apparently he has a very recognizeable back of the head. Who knew?) So that at least made coming into the office worthwhile, to have the treat of seeing Princess.

Therefore at the end of the day when it was time to leave to go running, I left with him, to have company to talk with on the journey. We actually had an interesting discussion about what it's like to run when you are fit, the way it is for him, rather than it being the exercise in torture when you are trying to get fit, like it is for me. Kind of an interesting concept, and the only thing I could really relate it to was polo/riding, which is torture when your muscles aren't in shape, but is such a pleasure that I don't even notice the exertion in my muscles until after I've been doing it for several hours. Perhaps that's what it's like to be fit when you run...

We got to the pub (which was much further from King's Cross than I had remembered!), which was wonderfully warm after coming in from the cold. Keep in mind, it was officially below freezing out, and just ridiculously cold out there. Due to the cold temps, I decided to keep my fleece on for the run, which turned out to be a wise move.

I kept up pretty well for the duration of most of the run, until the trail crossed Gray's Inn Road, the street that the pub was on. I thought to myself, "I'm not stupid!", and instead of following the crowds, just went back down the street to the pub.

I got back to the pub just as those who were injured and manning the drinks stop were about to head out, so I went out with Claire (who had also returned early) and a few others for that. It was kind of a strange drinks stop, as they had a small keg of Heineken, but no cups, so everyone just had to drink straight from the keg! Needless to say, I declined to participate...

Claire and I then ran back to the pub, where we had some mulled wine and minced pies. Matt also came by, as his girlfriend has now returned to the US, and so as he said, "While the cat's away, the mice will play!" Not that Matt would "play" in any sort of devious sense, but I think instead just is enjoying the opportunity to go out and have a few beers with his boys without worrying about leaving his girlfriend at home by herself. So it was a delightful treat to see him.

At the circle, Kitty then told a story about how "Tiger Woods has been dropped as the official spokesperson for Accenture, and we can't help but wonder if it was some scandal with an Accenture employee that started it all. I mean, they say that he's up to 14 ladies by now, so of course that makes you wonder about the First Lady, now doesn't it?" The whole thing was just such a clever play on words, I had to laugh, and cheerfully accept my down-down.

After that, I mainly became involved in conversation with Matt, Mike and Cookie (who I finally insisted on buying a drink, since I owe her about 15!), although we did get into a strange side conversation with Pork Pie about the bizarre fetishes of some of his friends. Although I'd met the friends he named, I did have fun with Cookie teasing him that these were all stories about his "friends", and nothing to do with him!

Finally when Matt and Cookie were leaving, we all walked back to Chancery Lane together, where we had an interesting conversation about biological clocks, having kids, and long-distance relationships. Basically, none of us really wants to have kids any time soon, but as Cookie and I pointed out, for Matt that is no problem, as although he is 30, his girlfriend is only 22. It doesn't work out quite so well for me and Cookie, as she's in a long-distance relationship with a guy who is younger than she is, and I've already hit 30 and am still single, how much time do I realistically have? I would wait until I was 40 if I could actually be guaranteed of being able to have kids at that age, but who really knows? Cookie as well just kept voicing her frustrations about being in a long-distance relationship with a man where there's no real end in sight. After a certain point I think you have to wonder if marriage is in the cards, and if it is, what it would look like. How would you have kids if you were still in a long-distance relationship? I really get the sense that Cookie honestly likes her boyfriend, but the times that he leaves her on her own are really proving to be intolerable...

In the end, although it was a bitterly cold night, I'm glad I came out for the run, as it was such a good time with friends in the end!

Tim's Book Launch

I worked from home today (too tired after last night's party), and Emily stayed home for the day as well, as she was feeling quite sick. I made her a ham sandwich just to be nice, which she really seemed to appreciate. Just really spent some time hanging out with her and Tim, having a very chill morning.

At around 4 PM, Tim left to go prepare for his book launch, and then I got a call from Nikola just wondering why Tim hadn't given him a complimentary copy of his book, particularly that Tim had mentioned him in the acknowledgements. As always, it's great to talk to Nikola, but I really didn't know what to say. How to explain Tim's behaviour? Because I agree, Tim's been acting rather strangely, but how much do you attribute to just failing to think about it, vs. just being douche-y? I must say though, I'm tremendously curious to see if he remembers to send a handwritten bread-and-butter note after he gets home. Why do I get the sinking feeling he won't?

I left with Emily to go to Tim's book launch party, and broke one of my heels on the Tube on the way there. (The little plastic bit came off the bottom, so the shoes were still walkable, if a bit unbalanced).

Once we arrived, I got a glass of wine, and stood around talking to people, including Nikola, Jen, and Flori. I was quite delighted when Alister popped in just a tad bit late, as I always love seeing Alister. Soon enough, the speaking started, with some old QC giving an introductory long and rambling speech about famous Australians whose names I did not recognize. The whole thing just went over my head. The speech went on for nearly 30 minutes (I checked my watch), and I was sooooo bored!

Then Tim gave his little speech, which was much better than that of the rambling QC, although nowhere near as good as the talk Michael Scott gave a few months ago. It's rather funny how I'm becoming a critic of book launch parties...

After the launch was over, a group of nine of us went out to dinner, popping in at a local Thai place. I ended up sitting next to Alister and just talking to him the entire time, which I almost felt a bit bad about, but I so rarely get a chance to see Alister, I almost felt like it was a wonderfully guilty indulgence, to just take the opportunity to catch up with a good friend.

We talked a bit about his job and how he's enjoying work, and as I suspected he's suffering from the same problem that I was when I started at Accenture, that of time management skills. Unlike when you are a student, and can just do things according to your own schedule and decide the priorities of your own projects (and usually just have one main thesis you are working on), you really have to learn how to fit into a corporate structure when you start working, and keeping track of the multitude of minor tasks. I'm sure he'll do fine, as I figured it out eventually, so I'm sure he will as well.

Finally at the end of the evening, I went home with Nikola, Jen and Alister, and we walked by the old closed Aldwych station. It's actually a fascinating place, a completely abandoned Tube station, that is now only used for filming movies. I had read much about it but had never been quite sure about where it was, so I was perhaps a bit excessively excited to see it.

Nikola and Jen got off at Victoria, whereas Alister, Tim and I changed trains at Earl's Court. Tim seemed a bit bemused by my enthusiasm and excitement about London transport (I kept cheering for the arrows on the sign boards to indicate that the next train was for Olympia), but he's been so cheerless and melancholy throughout his entire trip that I suppose it's a really terrible way to go through life. Perhaps I'm a bit strange, but I can't imagine being as NOT excited about things as Tim is. Must be a terirble way to go through life, really...

Holiday Open House

I woke up early (how I love this new policy of giving up hangovers!), and in a bit of a panic about glasses, napkins, ice, and toilet paper, decided to make a run to the grocery store. As it turned out however, I was a bit too keen, and when I got there it turned out that the store wasn't open until 11 AM, another 25 minutes from then. Since it would take me nearly 25 minutes to run home and come back again, there was really nothing for it but to hang around and wait. Kind of odd to just be hanging around in a small shopping mall full of closed stores, waiting for one to open!

I bought all of the necessary last-minute supplies and came home, to discover that Emily and her young man, Will, weren't yet awake. And I have to say I wasn't at all resentful that Emily didn't seem to be doing any party prepping whatsoever, but just confused, really. My mother has done this as well, just inviting tons of people over for a party, without seeming to give any real thought to setting up organizing, just figuring that things will take care of themselves. Hence, I was in a bit of a tricky spot, as I felt like I didn't just want to take over everything, but what else was I supposed to do?

Finally, Emily and Will did get up, and I finally got a chance to properly meet Will. Seems like a nice enough chap, one that I won't mind having around. Emily finally decided to make a contribution by putting togeter a playlist for the party. Which didn't include ANY Christmas music. For a holiday party. Ummm.... Forgive me if I sound ungrateful, but her methods of party preparation were utterly baffling to me.

People started arriving at around 3:15, with a couple arriving with their 11-month old baby. Then Tim made it back, and as everybody seemed to be requesting non-alcoholic drinks, we sent him out for some more soda water (as soda water and lime was our non-alcoholic offering for the evening).

Then Emily's brother Ben arrived, along with Freddie (8-month old) and Millie (3-year old), and Millie immediately took to going through Emily's shoe closet and trying on shoes.

I was kind of surprised as people arrived, Emily made absolutely no mention of what people should do with their coats, offering to take them or anything. Did she not think about this at all? I had cleaned my room to a pin, and so kept telling people to put their coats in my room, but unfortunately I didn't feel like I could charge up to Emily's friends and tell them to do so when they weren't doing it already. This led to a disaster later in the evening when people kept piling coats on our coat rack, which can hold maybe two coats on a good day. They knocked off and muffled the answer phone for the front door, so we had some people standing outside for 15 minutes trying to get in. Augh! Next time, I'll just have to be more forward about it and just take everyone's coats from them, I think!

My friend Will arrived (I was honestly surprised when he RSVP'd, even more so when he showed up), and then Sara brought some gluten-free brownies. Cat, a friend of mine from polo came, and Matt and Mo arrived, after some confusion where they were knocking on the next door neighbour's door looking for the party! My friends Nic and Ali arrived as well, which I was glad for, as Tim had been hoping to get a chance to catch up with Ali, so it was great that he came.

Kia, a girl I run with (actually known as Second Lady on the hash, as she's named for me) came, although asked for water, seeming a bit worse for wear after last night's party. Apparently the whole thing went on until 4 AM, with the party moving to this guy Rob's house. I don't know, I used to feel like I'd missed out when I missed the epic ends of parties, but I really don't anymore, just feeling smug for having gone home at a reasonable hour. I guess with age really does come wisdom...

Then Christian arrived, a Danish guy I'd done my course with at Oxford. I felt horrible, as due to the masses of coats on the coat rack, I hadn't heard the buzzer, and he'd been waiting outside for 15 minutes before he managed to get in! Yet, after I apologized profusely, it was lovely to see him, as he'd brought chocolates and helped me make some more mulled wine in the kitchen. (Luckily, as someone from Scandanavia, he was an absolute expert at it!)

I also discovered the huge downside of hosting a party where you invite all of your good friends: Given that you are the only person who knows everyone, it is up to you to be a good social hostess and make sure everyone is introduced to everyone else. You want to spend time talking to all of them, but instead you have to frantically circulate, trying to make sure that everyone is introduced to each other. I felt so bad for Christian, as he was left to introduce himself to Kia and make some good conversation, as I was running around trying to make sure everyone else was doing well...and he was someone I really wanted to talk to! I can understand why so many parties with hash people tend to just be other hash people, as at least we all know each other and don't need introductions like that. In the end, Christian and I agreed to meet up for dinner at the O&C in January to do a bit more of a proper catch-up... (Also another great part of being a member of the O&C, as it's a great excuse to invite people out to dinner, and everyone always wants to come! That club has really been so worth the money, I can't even begin to say how much it's benefitted me...)

My friend Marjanne arrived with another friend, although I was a bit frustrated in that I had difficulty getting them to circulate with others, although I was pleased that they brought Cava. (Quite a bit of Cava and Prosecco was circulating all evening, which of course I absolutely LOVED, as it's among my favourite things to have!) I actually asked Tim to open the bottle (as he wasn't being all that helpful, and I figured that it was a manly thing to do, to open the champagne), but when he glanced up at the ceiling to get a sense of how much clearance there was, I immediately snatched it back from him. What man doesn't know how to properly open champagne? So I worked it open myself, and was quite pleased with under my firm grip, the cork popped without even an audible "pop!", but just the gentle sigh of a properly opened bottle. Tim declared himself suitably impressed, as he well should be! (And he should really learn how to open champagne bottles, otherwise how on earth is he ever going to impress a girl?)

Still, I did manage to introduce Marjanne around a bit, and get her talking to Kia, so the hash people were all taking care of themselves at least!

I eventually found Tim and Will in the kitchen, bonding over making mulled wine, which I was glad that the two boys had a fun task to occupy themselves. Later in the evening, Will did spill a glass of mulled wine on the carpet, but we'd always known that was at risk of happening, so I didn't really mind. These things happen, I suppose! I was just so grateful to Will for coming, for being so willing to talk to everyone and be entertaining, and for taking over the job of making mulled wine for everyone, that I felt horrible that he felt even the slightest bit bad about the spill. He was practically taking over my job as host for me, which I was so appreciative of!

I was at first a bit troubled when people seemed to be coming and then leaving after only an hour or two, but as I think back on it, I realise that I'm the only hyper-social person I know, who stays until the end of every party I go to. Perhaps just coming to a party for an hour or two is more the norm? I hope so, otherwise I had everyone leaving my party early as they were bored...

My friends Kitty and Cookie arrived in the third-wave of guests to come, at which point I was realising that the downside of starting a party at 3 PM and having it go until midnight was that it meant you were committing yourself to staying through a 9-hour party. 'Twas getting a bit tiring!

I ended up talking to Kitty a bit about Pork Pie, and how he'd gone off to the Far East in search of enlightenment, and instead of coming back a better and more peaceful person, I felt like he'd come back a bigger jerk. I mean, how often does that happen? He's just drinking too much, and really just acts like an arse every time I see him. Although then Kitty raised a very good point with me, asking, "When do you just say he's acting like an arse and write him off, and when do you become a really good friend and realise something is wrong there?" She's got a point. What does it mean to be a friend, particularly when your friends are obviously going off the deep end?

We ended up turning on the television and watching the X-Factor finale (huge show here in the UK), and then afterwards Emily finally made her way to the piano to play some Christmas carols. Strangely, as we were all singing along, Tim didn't seem to know the words to anything. Perhaps he never went to church growing up? How strange. Although the singing was so lovely, that it made me wish we'd had more Christmas music playing earlier...

Finally, I said good-bye to Kitty and Cookie after a long inspection of the maps on the wall in my room, and put the beautiful roses Kitty had brought for me into water. We sat around with our last two guests for a bit while they waited for their train, where they talked a bit about my friend Will, and what an odd character he is. I don't know, as I will admit that Will has his peculiarities, but I'm incredibly fond of him, so I wasn't quite sure what to make of their finding humour in him. I adore Will, and hence am not too pleased with anybody saying anything that even seems mildly disparaging about him!

We then cleaned up as much as was necessary, I set up Tim's bed in the living room (why on earth did I have to do that? He's been being the strangest houseguest), and then we all flopped into bed ourselves. I stayed up long enough to see that I'd gotten a message from Leigh letting me know that Accenture had dropped its sponsorship of Tiger Woods. I love it how some guy I went to high school with is more up on our sponsorship deals than I am...

Hash Christmas Party

In the morning, Tim was planning on heading up to Oxford for the night, so I went grocery shopping with Emily to get all sorts of things for our planned open house party the next day. We got back and Tim was surprisingly still at our flat, but left soon enough, after which point I got to work baking pumpkin bread muffins, brownies, gluten-free chocolate muffins, and pumpkin pie tartlets (which were impossible as I had to keep making mini pumpkin pie shells!) A lot of baking, but at least reassuring that we had lots of food for the party the next day.

I then took a shower and did my hair up (I followed a YouTube tutorial to get a hairstyle that might look okay with my Primark tiara), and then ran out to catch the Tube. It was torture, as the train from Kensington Olympia was delayed, then once it arrived it got stuck outside of Earl's Court, and then at Earl's Court the next train I jumped on (that claimed to be for Uxbridge) actually went to High Street Kensington. I noted with dismay that an hour after I'd left my flat, I was only at a place that is just a 10-minute walk down the street from my house! Finally after 1.5 hours (should have been a 30-minute journey), I made it to the party, with my head only slightly hurting from the too-small tiara.

The costumes at the party were great, as people had done some great things with the theme of "Come Dressed As Your Favourite Drink". Kitty was dressed in a blood-spattered shift with a nun's style headress, which I realised was her take on the Virgin Mary, hence making her a "Bloody Mary." Helen came in a blue dress with a nun's habit on, making her a "Blue Nun". Princess came as "Sex on the Beach", wearing not just beachwear, but also carting around a giant life-sized sex doll and shuffling about with his trousers around his ankles, making for a truly disturbing costume (particularly as we discovered that all of the orifices on the sex doll were quite real). Although as Cookie said to him, "Like you would ever come dressed as anything else." After all, if it's Princess, you can be sure that he'll wear the most shocking and offensive costume possible!

Sweetheart came dressed as a gay man from a gay pride parade with a British flag, making him "London Pride", and Cookie equally also dressed with flags, a "London" banner around her waist, and a Tube map taped to her shirt, fo the same theme. Pork Pie came with no costume at all, but was just drunk. It kind of made me wonder how on earth it is that he went away in search of enlightenment, and just came back as a total jerk. It rather bothers me that we used to be such good friends, because he's really just turned into an arse lately.

For dinner, we had a few choices, and I kept waiting for a steak and ale pie, but they were never coming. So finally when some good-lookin ham, eggs, and chips came up, I was so starving that I just decided to take those for dinner!

After dinner, they gave out awards for the best costume, and also called up all of those people dressed as the same drink. There were three other girls also dressed as Bombay Sapphire, although all just wearing blue saris, something I had never even considered as a costume idea. I did really like how Anna had done her costume however, as she actually wore this beautiful blue stone necklace in her hair, which looked quite exotic and sophisticated. I shall have to try that sometime.

After the prizes were given out, Cookie and I took Sweetheart's prize of wind-up crawling babies (no, seriously), and started racing them on the bar. Yet, after a while I was getting rather bored and tired, and given that I had a party to host the next day I decided to head home. Got home in 30 minutes, much more to my liking!!

Dinner with Tim

Even though it was the day after the HR Christmas party, I was getting cold hanging out at home, so I decided to go into the office. Any worries I might have had about not getting a desk were definitely for nought, as when I arrived, there was absolutely nobody there! Hence I had my pick of desks for the day...

Admittedly, later in the day some guy came and sat down a few desks away from me, and after I was having problems on my computer, I stupidly locked myself out of it after I failed to remember my personnel number. So I had to call tech support and repeat my name several times loudly during the course of conversation with the technologist in India. Then afterwards, the one other guy in the office came over and introduced himself as being a part of the Capability Development team, and that he'd seen my name on the org charts, and so when he heard me say my name, had decided to come over and introduce himself. How neat, eh?

I then had to rush a bit to make it to my club to meet Tim for dinner, but found at 6:50 PM (we'd said we'd meet between 6:30-7) that he still had yet to arrive. Luckily I wasn't waiting for too long before he got there, so I took him on a tour of the club, and then we got a table for dinner.

I have to admit, I was really quite exhausted after the festivities of the night before, so I don't remember all that much of the dinner or the conversation, except that Tim told me Nikola's old girlfriend had gome out of the closet as a lesbian. Wow, that one must be a shocker! I always sort of wonder if people who have been in straight relationships sort of know at the time that they actually prefer something else, or if it's truly just a sudden discovery like that. Still, whatever the case may be, I'm guessing that it must be quite a surprise for Nikola, if he knows...

Tim then also started ranting about how dissappointed he was in some people after they discovered the truth of what happened with Kurt Mitman, a guy who used to be at Balliol with us on a Marshall scholarship, but who had suddenly departed mid-year with no explanation. As it turns out, he'd had to leave Oxford to go to the US and serve a 2.5 year prison sentence for statuatory rape. And Tim was upset that so many friends, upon learning the truth, had abandon Kurt, deciding to no longer be associated with him. He asked, "If I made just one mistake, would all of my friends abandon me too?"

Yet, as I got home and read about the case on Google, I have to say that there are minor mistakes in life, and then there are Mistakes, with a capital "M". Apparently Kurt met his victim at a summer camp for gifted students where Kurt was a counsellor, and the victim was only a 14-year old boy. (Oh yes, the fact that it was gay sex probably didn't help his case any). And that's sort of the thing that bothers me about it all, for a 14-year old boy who is probably grappling with his sexuality really just doesn't have the mental maturity to really consent to sex with a 22-year old man. That's why statuatory rape laws exist, and that's why anyone with character and morals, even if the young boy initiates things, says, "I can't do this. This is wrong." To actually go through with it shows a stunning lack of judgement, and a moral character that is just disturbing. Sure, perhaps it was a one-time mistake that he now deeply regrets, but you sort of wonder about the moral judgement that allowed you to get into that situation in the first place.

Anyway, while normally I stay out at the club until nearly midnight, although in this instance it wasn't even 10 PM, I was just too tired and bored by the conversation to stay out late, so even though I got the feeling that Tim could have stayed later, I decided to head home. It was just time to head to bed, really...

Lansdowne Club

My office HR Christmas party was this evening, although a friend of mine from my Oxford days, who had moved back to Australia several months ago, was arriving and needed a place to stay. So I agreed that he could stay with me, although I had to hope that he managed to get to my place from the airport before I needed to leave for the party in the evening!

Luckily he did make it with no problems, actually arriving somewhat early, which then totally threw me for a loop as I hadn't finished doing my hair (again trying out the hairstyle that I want to do for the ball next week, although with just a hairclip of roses in it instead of real fresh flowers). Still he arrived and I gave him my keys, finished getting ready, and went off to the Lansdowne Club.

The club was in the same general area that my club is, although going in, it seemed a touch more modern than my club. My club really relies on old gilt embellishments, big leather chairs, and crystal chandeliers everywhere, while this club had more of a 1920's feel to it. So not exactly modern in an art-deco sort of sense, but definitely more modern than mine, yet still a nice and lovely place.

When I arrived, I ended up talking to Liz Hopkins, who was the Senior Executive from Human Capital Strategy I had interviewed with ages ago, and who had failed to hire me. All water under the bridge however, and she took the time to introduce me to Shirley Adams, another Senior Executive who told me some very funny Tiger Woods jokes. They both seemed absolutely fascinated by my hairstyle, and were amazed that I had done it myself, but I pointed out that it was not overly complicated to do. (Yes, kind of aweird conversation to be having with Senior Executives, but so it goes). Indeed, as I looked around, I saw that there was only one other girl there who had properly styled her hair, making me wonder when on earth doing your hair went out of style?

I also ran into Ramsey Mira, a Senior Executive who I doubted would even remember my name, so I was totally blown out of the water when he not only remembered my name, but also mentioned to everyone that I have a new role and asked how it was going. I guess it really goes to show that little social graces like remembering people's names are truly they keys to success!!

I then made the rounds talking to a few other people I knew, and even saw a chap wearing a Hawk's Club bow-tie (dark maroon with gold stripes), but I never got to ask him if he indeed went to Cambridge.

I sat down at a table with a few people I recognized, most from the compensation team, I think. It was really striking how different people looked when all dressed up in black tie.

For dinner, we had a vegetarian starter of some sort of quiche pie that was absolutely delicious, then a heavenly rare steak (it was like they had just barely touched it to the grill, my favourite way to do it), and then we finally finished with a cheesecake and a chocolate box with fruits in it. The coolest part was how we were served however, as all of the waters would gather around the table with the dishes, and then on some pre-arranged signal, serve us all at once in one coordinated motion with crossed arms. Kind of bizarre, but also really cool, and also nice in that you didn't have to wait for ages for one last person to be served, you could all tuck into your meal immediately!


As we were finishing our meal, this waitress got up to the microphone, apologized for interrupting our meal, and said she'd been challenged on a bet to sing a song, and so started shyly and awkwardly singing a song. Then a guy in a chef's hat came out, applauded her and said they didn't think she would actually do it, and started singing too. When she joined in again and they started singing opera, you realised that these were much more accomplished singers than we might have thought!

They then sang "Nessun Dorma", which absolutely gave me chills running down my spine. How I love opera, and I really need to go more!

Then, to get the crowds involved, they sang the "That's Amore" song, as well as "Summer Nights" from Grease. Then they had us all raise our glasses for the "loyal toast", but just as we were about to say, "To the Queen!", the band Queen started playing, and they went on with "We are the Champions" and "I'm Having Such a Good Time". Finally at the end, they stood on chairs and took their costumes off, to reveal t-shirts with the name of their group, "Incognito", underneath. Although an unusual bit of entertainment, it definitely was different and got everyone on their feet. So a good act, I think!

After dinner, the band began playing, but it was too loud inside, so I went to stand outside with the smokers (despite the fact that it was absolutely freezing outside). I met a girl who turned out to have gone to Oriel, Oxford, and we had a good time chatting, so I offered to take her to dinner at the O&C at some point in January. (Much to my amazement, I actually remembered her name and remembered to e-mail her when I got home).

Then finally as it was getting late and Tom was leaving too, I walked home with him, and as we got to talking about clubs and fancy dinners, I suggested that we do dinner at the O&C as well, along with his wife and Princess. That would make a nice little foursome, don't you think? Given that I remembered to e-mail all of them the next day as well, I guess I hadn't had as much wine as I had feared. Also it probably helped that Tom bought me a water at the little corner shop in the station as we headed home, so now I definitely need to take them out to dinner!

Colder Run

Just a day after I'd been moaning about how I hadn't heard from the 25-Year Old in a week, he wrote to me. Just talking about how he was disappointed to have missed the whiskey tasting, but how it was nice to see his brother, who was about to give him another niece. What a lucky guy, to have so many nieces and nephews already!

Then just as I'm intrigued about how the 25-Year Old has finally written, the Neighbour Guy also writes to tell me that he'll be attending the Christmas Ball next Friday. Well now, isn't THAT interesting? And then the guy I met at lunch on Saturday accepted my friend request and wrote about how nice it was to have met me (although I don't put much stock in that, given that I had to request him as a friend first). Still on the whole, it makes me look forward to the ball even more, as I think it might turn out to be quite an intriguing evening.

After work I left for the evening's run, waiting for ages for the City Thameslink, which surprisingly took ages. Still, I made it to London Bridge eventually, and then didn't follow the P-trail (as I couldn't remember which exit they said it went from), but instead just followed the route I remembered from having been to this pub before. I almost got lost, but eventually made it there.

I collected money at the start, which actually wasn't too arduous. People are slowly learning to give their money at the start.

On the run, I didn't end up doing much, as I only got to the second check before I totally lost the group. And as much as I love running by myself in the cold and dark through sketchy-looking housing estates, I decided to head back to the pub. Of course, given that I was totally lost and had no idea where I was, this took a little while, bringing me back to the pub only 15 minutes in advance of everyone else.

Once everyone else was back, I talked to Dave for a bit, trying to continue our catch-up from the day before, but didn't really get a chance to say much before he got dragged off. Cookie then bought me a drink, and I really just had a nice time talking to her, she's always a great person to chant with. Later in the evening, I ended up talking to Cookie, her friend Mike, and Second Lady, where Second Lady and I kept trying to explain to everyone the American concept of a "guido". At the very least, we made everyone laugh with our attempts!

At the end of the evening, Cookie and Mike persuaded me to stay for one more drink, so it was nearly 11 PM by the time we left. Why is it always so hard to leave the hash? The little social butterfly in me can just never leave early!

Monday Work Drinks

As I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to do my hair next week, and so I've been using more minor events where I have a reason to go out as a way of doing practice runs. Did some nice twists and pinned it up in the back, but I think I need to work more on those back curls.

I made it to "Prohibition", the pub where we were meeting for drinks, at around 6 PM. An old colleage of mine (actually my first boss) was back from Germany for a visit, where she's been living for the past year. She had also just broken up with her long-term boyfriend there, and so was now trying to decide what to do next.

When I arrived, the only person there was Princess, although it was good to get a chance to catch up with him one-on-one for a bit. He'd shaved the mustache that he'd been growing for "Movember", as a charity money-raising project, although told me that he'd kept it on for a couple of days to go to a "chaps" party, where it was all old posh men with handlebar mustaches and dressed up like swells, doing everything that was very chap-like. Apparently he'd gone with Pork Pie, and was saying that I should go to the event next year, as it was just the sort of event that I'd love, since I'm "posh, like Pork Pie is." I raised an eyebrow at the thought that Pork Pie is posh (not that I necessarily think I am, but perhaps a bit more than Pork Pie), which got a chuckle out of Princess.

My old co-worker and a friend of hers arrived, and we just spent somet time talking and catching up. There was some interesting work gossip, that apparently more people on my old team have been let go, and that they even wanted to go after my old co-worker except that she's officially a UK employee and it would be prohibitively expensive to let her go. (How much do I love living in the UK with its protections for workers?) So apparently the entire team is in flux with nobody knowing what's going on, and everything just a huge, stressful, mess. It seems that I got out at a good time, but I have no idea why on earth my company is torturing its own employees like this.

Some really drink guys then approached our table, absolutely descending on us and hitting on us en masse. They really didn't take the hint that we were just a bunch of girls out catching up on a Monday night, although we did wonder how on earth they were so drunk already at 7:30 PM on a Monday. That's a bit much, don't you think?

Luckily, this scene caught the attention of the bartender, who cleared them out and apologized to us. Thank goodness there are still chivlarous men out there who protect women from unwelcome advances!

Given that it was a Monday night and we didn't really feel like staying out late, after just one Long Island Iced Tea (which was ridiculously weak anyway), and a Diet Coke, we all headed home. When I got there however, a ridiculously funny program that my flatmate and I love, "Miranda" was playing, and so even though I desperately needed to pee, I stayed and watched and laughed my head off. Such a brilliant programme!

Then after the show, I talked to my flatmate a bit about Will, the guy that she's been seeing recently. It's still early days yet, but he seems incredibly attentive and wonderfully sweet to her. He's stayed over a few times already, although because I've been trying to give them space, I haven't actually run into him. I confessed to her that despite initially hearing a lot from the 25-Year Old, I hadn't heard from him in a week, after he'd failed to take my hint suggesting a meet-up after I returned from Thanksgiving. That's bad news, I fear...

Lunch at Emily and Toby's

Some friends of mine through the club, Emily and Toby, invited me to their flat this afternoon for a luncheon. I was kind of curious to see where they lived and what their flat was like, and meet their friends. They'd already told me at the masquerade ball that a single male friend of theirs was coming, and was hoping that I might take a shine to him. Although I think most everyone is suspicious of set-ups, Emily and Toby are such a lovely couple that I figured any friend of theirs was bound to be a nice chap. Hence, I was at least going with an open mind.

As I walked up the road to their house, I ran into Toby making his way back to the flat with Theo, Emily's three-year old son. I've never quite been able to solve the mystery around that one, as Emily had this child, yet I have no idea if it was a relationship that didn't last, a marriage that didn't last, or what on earth happened to Theo's father. Regardless, Theo now even has Toby's last name, Emily refers to Toby as "daddy" with Theo, and whatever Theo's original parentage was, it's never mentioned. I have to give Toby credit on that front, as I don't think many 29-year olds would enthusiastically take on the challenge of becoming an instant parent to a 3-year old. Yet he does it with aplomb.

Even stranger, while most single mothers would have struggled financially, Emily somehow managed to avoid working and have the time to go out to balls and clubs all of the time, which is how she met Toby. She now doesn't work, but just stays home with Theo and awaits the birth of their first child together, a daughter to be named "Antigone" (or "Tiggy", for short), in January. I'm always puzzled by the two of them, yet I think it's fascinating.

As I ran into them, Theo was obviously having a total meltdown, demanding to be picked up and carried. Toby, at least, just kept moving right along, figuring that Theo would be fine as soon as they got him home, although when I had to get into the tiny elevator with that screaming child, it was quite noisy!

Yet true to form, as soon as we got back to the flat, Theo was miraculously cured, and we sat down for drinks (winter Pimm's, apparently, which was surprisingly lovely). I made conversation with the other married couple, Adrian (yes, another!) and his wife Jacqueline. Theo was quite rambunctious and jumping all over everyone, but I guess that's sometimes how it is, that your child goes into meltdown mode right when you have guests.

The final guest, the Single Male Friend, arrived, and then we sat down to eat. The starter was absolutely lovely, these packets of smoked salmon wrapped around salmon mousse, which went beautifully with the white wine. Then there was pheasant and potatoes for the main, before finally a summer berry cake thing for dessert. Really all amazingly delicious.

Better than the food however, was the conversation, which ranged widely over topics from "What would the housing market look like if we eliminated mortgages?" to "What evolutionary advantages are there to the unusual ways in which animals have evolved in Australia?" It was the sort of super-nerdy yet well-informed conversation where everyone has little facts or tidbits to offer to the debate, because we all spend our free time when we're bored at work reading Wikipedia. Perhaps it's only with an Oxbridge crowd that Mandelbrot would come up in conversation, but when it does, you know you're having a good time.

When it came to learning a bit more about people however, I'll admit I was flummoxed. I never like to ask to many boring, run-of-the-mill questions like, "What do you do? Where do you live?", lest I be seen as prying. Yet at pauses in the conversation then, I feel this odd compulsion to tell a story of my own, which then sends me into a self-doubting spiral wondering if I'm talking too much about myself. At the very least, since I collect humorous anecdotes the way some people collect bottle caps, I feel relieved that most of my stories about myself will have the table laughing their heads off in short order. So I love to be entertaining, even as I worry that it is a bit too narcissistic.

Which brings me to the crux of the problem of the evening, which is that since most all of the conversation took place in the group format and was restricted to the stories people felt like telling, there was no way for me to really get to know the Single Male Friend, to get any sense if he was interested or do so in return. I suppose I could take that as an instant "no", for if there isn't any immediate chemistry, maybe it isn't happening. Yet, do you always have to have immediate butterflies and sparks? What about if you get to know someone one-on-one? After all, the guy seemed wonderfully nice, so doesn't it seem like those are the guys you should give the most opportunity to for something to develop?

Admittedly Emily did make more than a few comments that she would like to see the Single Male Friend settled with a nice girlfriend and eventually with a wife. Luckily she did not directly reference me with any of these comments, but she really seemed quite set on the goal of finding him a girl!

Finally at the end of dinner, the Single Male Friend went home to pack (he'd actually just closed on a flat that morning), and I stayed chatting a bit with the remaining two married couples. Then a teenage baby-sitter arrived for the three-year old, and everyone went out to a church carol service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, but I begged off as I was truly worried in a warm church with lovely music that I was likely to fall asleep.

Overall, a lovely afternoon, one which makes me realise how much I enjoy intelligent friends and interesting conversation!

Whiskey Tasting

As it has been getting cold during the day, making it quite chilly in my flat when I attempt to work from home, I went into the office to work, although I don't really think I got that much done, if anything at all. (I know, then why am I so far behind on this blog, right?) I've been suffering huge motivational problems ever since the company informed me that despite having achieved one of the highest performance ratings in the company, I will be getting no salary increase this year. Nada. Zilch.

And so you might argue that it's worth working hard in a down economy because then that will prevent you from getting laid off, but as we've seen that didn't work out either! So with no chance of harder work translating into more money, a promotion, or a more secure position, it's kind of like, "What's the point?" Hence I just spend my days doing whatever the heck I feel like, although bizarrely this still seems to lead my new boss to say that I'm doing an amazing job. Weird, but I like this precedent.

Anyway, after work, I was due to attend a whiskey tasting at my club. Nobody I knew was going (the 25-Year Old's brother was in town), but that's always a great opportunity to meet new people, right?

I arrived right at 7 PM, which perhaps was a mistake, as I got stuck in a boring conversation with a few other early birds who struggled for conversation. I ended up with one guy quizzing me on whether I preferred single malts or blends, obviously looking to trip me up in my knowledge about whiskey. Let's be clear however, I was never claiming to be an expert, as I was there to learn!

Luckily however, more people arrived, and I found myself in conversation with a nice enough guy named Alasdair. Yet, we didn't really get a chance to talk too much, as before too long we were instructed to sit down for the tasting to begin.

Unfortunately, a number of people were late, so I ended up with an empty chair on my left, although the guy on my right seemed nice and cute enough. We ended up exchanging knowing smiles and random comments with each other throughout the tasting. Nice.

After the tasting had already started, a guy showed up late and sat on my left, although I was distinctly unimpressed by him. He was wearing a black dress shirt, a dark purple tie, and this ridiculous pattered sweater over the whole thing. He had the distinct look of a guy trying to look "artsy" or "edgy", but he just looked like he couldn't be bothered to properly dress himself. As well, his hair was uncombed and he was unshaven, and then as soon as he arrived, he took of his jacket (making himself the only person in the room not wearing a jacket, because obviously that sort of thing is just not done in the club). Needless to say, based on attire and his tardy arrival alone, I didn't think it worthwhile to even bother introducing myself. We never spoke.

The whiskey tasting itself was really good fun. We tasted six whiskeys:

1) Hazelburn 8 year old. Campbeltown
2) Glen Garioch 15 year old. Highland
3) Clynelish 14 year old. Coastal Highland
4) Highland Park 12 year old. Island (Orkney)
5) Caol Ila 12 year old. Islay
6) Glenfarclas 21 year old. Speyside

The Hazelburn was a triple distilled whiskey, although it definitely tasted a bit young and harsh, it definitely burned more than I tasted it. Although with every whiskey, we'd usually try it neat and then put in a bit of water to smooth out the flavours and take another taste. Hence a really great and complex way to taste whiskeys.

The gent leading the tastings mentioned that we should at some point try doing a whiskey tasting with chocolate, and after drinking the Highland Park, I could certainly see why. It was a sherry-casked whiskey, and you could really taste the sweetness and hint of chocolate flavours that I'm sure would be brought out brilliantly by some really nice dark chocolate.

The Glenfarclas was also a lovely sherry-casked whiskey, and while I liked it a lot, I'm not sure I liked it's £60 per bottle price! I think I'll stick to the cheaper ones, if you don't mind...

The last was the Caol Ila, which everyone who likes Laphroig recognized instantly, for it was like drinking a campfire, it was so smokey. I was definitely a fan, although I can see why one might prefer some of the other whiskeys on offer, it doesn't all have to be about the Laphroig, I guess..

I was one of only about 3 girls out of the 30-odd people in attendance, and I think I was the only girl to finish all of her drinks. But what can I say? I actually like whiskey!

Although we only tasted six whiskeys, the entire event went on for almost 2 hours, and people had even more questions at the end, the guy running the tasting had been so fascinating. As this wrapped up however, the chap sitting to my right and I started talking, and as soon as he opened his mouth I had this cringe moment: He might have been cute, but he had an incredible lisp!

Oh well, as we got more into discussion, it was revealed that he had a girlfriend in New York, and he was planning to transfer there with his company, to live and work in New York and be close to her. Good on him, and we talked for a while about New York and what I liked about it. He works for Alliance Bernstein, which owns the building where my company's Manhattan office is located, so I immediately gave him the lowdown on all of my favourite lunch places for when I'm in Manhattan.

Then, as it was time to leave the room for the tasting (as they were breaking down), I ended up walking out with the guy Alasdair I'd been talking to at the start, who seemed only too happy to be chatting with me. He wasn't a member of the club, although an Oxbridge grad, and was just attending the whiskey tasting with friends that evening. As I stood at the entrance to the dining room, trying to decide whether to go in for dinner, Alasdair's friends decided to take a tour of the club, but he declined to go along with them in favour of talking to me. How sweet!

Yet, when his friends came back from the club tour, they all said that they were tired and were going to head home. Without a member to dine with, Alasdair was really stuck, as you could tell he wanted to stay and dine with me and get to know me better, but he was really compelled to go home with his friends. Oh well, he was cute and nice, but it does seem that I meet cute, nice boys with a fair degree of frequency, so I wasn't too bothered.

After they departed, there were so many younger members dining at the club table, that I decided to join them. I ended up sitting next to Georgina, one of the younger member's committee chairs, who is nice enough but also seems half-mad. Oh well, always makes for unpredictably interesting conversation.

I had the lamb with mushrooms, although seeing other people's plates I realised that I should have gone for the scallops. Equally, when the dessert trolley came around, the server didn't really accurately explain what each thing was, so I ended up having black forest cake when I really should have gone for just the straight chocolate cake. Oh well, now I know for next time!

Seated to my other side, but slightly across the table to make for easy conversation, was a young couple who had not been at the whiskey tasting, but who apparently decided they wanted to dine at club table that evening. As the conversation went on, I gathered that although the man, Matt, was wearing a wedding ring, that was not his wife, as she (Jane) spoke about having a fiancee. Perhaps they were work colleagues or something? They were lovely company, and I enjoyed their conversation at dinner.

Nonetheless, I was still surprised as we finished dinner and I went to settle my bill, that they said they were retiring to the bar and asked what drink they should have waiting for me. I guess they'd enjoyed my company more than I thought if they were so forward about having me continue the evening with them! So I asked for a G&T, and shortly joined them at their table in the bar.

While we were in the bar, we spotted a large number of people wearing Cambridge Blues blazers and very odd bow-ties, one of which I recognized as being the Hawk's Club tie. Matt and Jane were tremendously curious about what the whole event was, so finally I just got up out of my chair and went over to strike up a conversation with the Blues people. (People forget that I am the super-extrovert who does not know shyness and will talk to anyone!)

As it turns out, they had all swum the English Channel or were somehow otherwise involved in swimming. Interesting stuff.

I then spent the rest of the evening talking with Matt and Jane, and at points our conversation veered humorously onto the topic of English men and how I don't understand them. Both of them (being an English man or engaged to one) had humorous insights to share, but basically concluded that I was entirely correct in seeing that English men had no concept of the whole "making a date" thing. And also that if the 25-Year Old was writing to me as frequently as he was, then he really likes me.

We stayed talking until well past midnight, we were enjoying the conversation so much, until finally it was about 1 AM, the bar was closed, and it was time to head home. I thought I could just grab a cab from out front, but as it was raining, no cabs were coming by. So the three of us all decided to to walk up to Trafalgar Square and see if we had any better luck there. Although when we arrived, I saw the N9 pulling up to its stop, which would take me directly home. Hence I told them of this fact, they urged me to go for it, and I quickly gave them each kisses on the cheek and then dashed for the bus.

How strange, as in the end after all of this time looking to be picked up by cute men, I had the distinct feeling I'd been "picked up" by this non-married couple. Who knows why, but it really was a lovely evening nonetheless! Maybe I'll see them again sometime!

Friending Girls

As much as we focus on the intricacies of the male-female romantic getting-to-know-you dance, I also find it funny how we make new female friends too. I've heard some of my friends who are mothers talk about this, the nervousness of hoping that the other mommies like them, of making new friends with other mothers. So how do you make friends with girls?

After running into Doro at last night's drinks reception, I sent her a quick note saying how nice it had been to see her. And so then I was almost surprised at the little thrill I got when she wrote back saying how thrilled she had been to see me as well. I can't say much for her friend Elana, but I really like Doro, and I hope I get a chance to keep getting to know her better.

Then I was surprised at work when I got an e-mail out of the blue from a girl I'd met at one of these inter-club events a few weeks ago, asking if I were going to be at the Christmas ball and saying how she was looking forward to seeing me again. Silly that I should be so excited about that, but I had been thinking of e-mailing her, and so was ridiculously pleased that she did so first. Funny how that "they like me!" excitement feeling can apply with girls as well as boys!

I guess that's something to keep in mind as I go to all of these events, that I might meet a nice boy, but then again if I'm lucky I might meet some nice girls too!

New Members Jazz and Champagne

I'd gotten an invitation a few weeks ago from the chairman of my club to come to a "New Members at Home Jazz, Drinks & Canapés Reception" this evening, apparently an event for all the individuals who had joined the club in the past year. Given that it was one of the few events I've ever been to at the club that I didn't have to pay for, I of course enthusiastically responded that I would attend.

I'd already checked with the 25-Year Old to see if he were coming, but unfortunately he had a work party that night (nearly everybody does every night of the week now that it's December). I'd written to him once I got back from the US, not so subtly dropping the hint that I'd like to see him again soon and roughly laying out my schedule for the next week or so. Yet, just before I was due to leave for the party, he wrote back to me, a nice enough note but simply saying, "Hope to see you again soon", without specifying any sort of date or suggesting any plans. For some reason, this ticked me off like you wouldn't believe, and so I determined that I would be open to meeting and talking to anyone I met that night. This is both the fun and annoying part of a new romantic interest, as while it's a thrill every time you open your inbox and there's a message from them, it's also incredibly confusing that you have no idea what's going through their minds!

Unfortunately I got stuck on conference calls at work, and although I'd had the idea of trying to do a somewhat complicated or fancy hairstyle, I ran out of time, so I had to just stick combs in my hair and go with it. One of these days, I'm going to remember to leave enough time to do my hair...

When I arrived, as I was hanging up my coat, I caught a very familiar looking girl doing a double-take, so I asked, "Doro, is that you?"

It was a girl I had met at the reverse dinner at the Savile Club two months prior, and we'd actually hit it off brilliantly and had been writing back and forth quite a bit since then. I suppose we could be forgiven for not immediately recognising one another, given that we hadn't seen each other in two months. Yet I was also a bit embarassed, for after having asked the 25-Year Old if he were coming, I'd never even thought to ask Doro if I might see her at the event! Particularly as we'd bonded over the fact that we'd both gone to Magdalene together, which is how we'd first gotten along. She laughed with relief that I'd clarified it was me, and said she'd though it was me, but she'd seen me wearing a Balliol scarf (instead of my Magdalene scarf) and so had been unsure. Understandable!

She'd brought along her friend Elana who had also been at the Reverse Dinner, although Elana didn't greet me quite as enthusiastically as Doro had. Indeed, as we got into the reception, I talked to them at the start, but Elana seemed to have no clue as to how to make conversation with new people. Intimidated because she didn't actually go to Oxford or Cambridge? Just shy, like my friend Sara, and it comes off as coldness? Hard to say, but soon enough I got involved in conversation with other people, and drifted off from Doro and Elana into another conversational group.

There were quite a number of older members there, but pretty quickly I found myself in a conversation with an Italian guy named Andrea who had been at Templeton at Oxford. (We got a good laugh out of having gender-opposite names, that are totally normal in our own countries). Also we were joined by two vegetarians named Alex and Anna. Admittedly I think I accidentally insulted them when I asked why they weren't eating the canapés, and Alex responded, "Oh you know, the whole 'dead animal' thing..." Ooops!

It was then a bit awkward as I would have liked to circulate more, but I couldn't quite figure out how to leave my conversational group. Couldn't leave to go get a new drinks, as the waiters were aggressively circulating with the champagne and canapés, and nobody seemed to want to be breaking into our group. Eventually the vegetarians left, and I ended up pulling Andrea into another group's conversation, before eventually making my way back to Doro and Elana. They were seated by themselves on a couch over in a corner, which I found unusual. Why on earth close yourself off from the crowds and talk to the person you already know? Then again, perhaps this is just what the extrovert in me doesn't understand. I realise this was a mistake I made in my younger years, by always attending events with a friend and just talking to them. One thing I like about Doro, is she's someone I could see passing a few lessons learned onto..

Then this guy who I had been noticing all evening as looking familiar came up to me, equally sure that we'd met before, although we couldn't figure out where. Terribly, I guessed the wrong name and wrong reason for knowing him, but before too long we realised that Emily had introduced us at the masquerade ball a few weeks prior. I congratulated him on a successful event (he had planned the entire thing), and he was such a smooth operator that we quickly moved past my initial social gaffe and got to talking.

Doro and Elana decided to head home, and before too long it was simply me and the Social Planner left in the room, ensconced on a couch and deep in conversation. In short, I don't think I've ever previously met anyone quite so interesting. We talked about when he'd filmed a murder mystery at a country estate, and how the couple who owned the house said he was a much better director than Stanley Kubrick, who had last used the house for one of his movies. We talked about how he'd planned elaborate away weekends for his friends, and the craziness of life at Oxford. He said he worked in PR, and I could see how perfectly suited he was to his role, as he obviously loved event planning and had an incredible knack for social conversation. Indeed, I was almost embarrassed at one point when he reminded me of the name of the girl I'd re-met at the masquerade ball, but then immediately forgotten her name. I was so determined to remember at that point, that I pulled out a pen and paper and wrote it down straight away so I couldn't forget again!

Then at some point as we were talking about grand adventures and quarter-life crises, I mentioned Po Bronson's book, "What Should I Do With My Life?" and the first chapter, about when a young man gets a visit from a representative of the Dali Llama to tell him that he was a reincarnated holy man. I can't remember if this was in response to, or what triggered his revelation, that when he was 14, he had been visited by a representative of the Dali Llama, informing him that he was some reincarnated llama of some sort. (As there are other Llamas besides the Dali Llama, he's just the head guy). And he said he felt sort of embarassed, as these people were giving him all of these gifts of various scarves and things, but he couldn't seem to convince them that they'd made some sort of horrendous mistake. (After all, it must be surprising to be a young British schoolboy and be told you're a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist). He hadn't had much to do with it since then, but given that he studied theology at Oxford (although focusing on Islam), I could see that he has an interest in these sorts of issues. I therefore told him that perhaps his destiny would be revealed in time, that perhaps those Buddhist holy men hadn't necessarily gotten it wrong. He laughed, but I wonder. Do they ever get it wrong? Or is it just that people fulfill their destinies in different ways? Fascinating idea.

Regardless, I could see there being something about this guy. He was just so engaging, making me laugh and smile as he told story after story, I don't think I've ever been quite so entertained. We continued talking as the staff broke down the room from the reception and set it up in the normal format, just asking us to move couches so they could reposition the one we were on. Some other folks invited me to join them for dinner, but I said I might catch up with them, and kept talking to the Reincarnated Llama.

Finally, he told me that he had to meet friends for dinner at a quarter-past 10, and I laughed and exclaimed, "But it's already 10:20 PM!" He just smiled and said he'd enjoyed talking to me. So we walked out together and he walked me to the Green Park Tube station. Okay, so he was way too short to be a romantic interest, and having graduated from Oxford in 2007, he was way too young. Yet...I can't recall the last time I've met anyone quite simply so fascinating. What a wonderful treat, to simply spend time in his company.