After work on Friday, I met up with an old co-worker of mine, who I had last seen almost two years previously when I'd gone to visit him and his partner in Hong Kong. After years of doing the ex-pat thing (first in Johannesburg, South Africa, then onto some city in China that I can't remember, and finally to Hong Kong, where I managed to score some free housing for a visit before he left), he was finally back in London. This guy often saved my sanity while I was working at my first job out of college, and has continued to be a wise mentor to me, as he's several years older than I am and much more advanced in his career, but seems to have a really genuine interest in seeing me do well in my career. And life too I suppose, as he always seems keen to check in on me.
At his suggestion, I met him at his new office near Soho (although he stayed with our old company for several years longer than I did, he finally had cut the cord), and we then debated where to go first. As it was more "his" end of town, I just made suggestions of the type of places I was looking for, and then he tried to think of something that might fit the bill. First, I suggested we just have an after-work pint of beer out on a sidewalk, enjoying the sunshine. Took a few tries before we found a pub where drinks could actually be ordered relatively quickly (everyone wants to have a pint out in the sunshine on Friday after work), but eventually we managed it, and spent some time catching up on all that was new since we'd seen each other last.
Then we went onto a "tasting bar", where we ordered a bottle of wine and some things that I swear looked like miniature catfish. He'd left the ordering of the wine up to me, and so I had to go just based on notes and descriptions, but I wanted something light, not too sweet, but also not too harsh and acidic. I wish I'd taken note of the wine that we ended up having, as I really think I hit the nail on the head, as it was absolutely lovely. And as I slowly let the cool, refreshing and crisp taste of the white wine roll over my tongue, tasting the slight hint of peaches, smelling the faint bouquet of roses, and just appreciating how lovely it was, I thought about how sad I would be if I did end up with that lovely guy who doesn't drink, and had to give up drinking. I'm sorry, but even the nicest grape juice will never have quite the complexity and nuanced taste that a really well-crafted wine will have.
After I let it slip how much I was currently paid, my mentor told me on no uncertain terms that I was underpaid for my intelligence and capabilities, ordered some chorrizo and manchego, and then covered the bill. I was a bit surprised at what a talking to he gave me about where I was in my career (although he did give me a pass to stay put where I was, given the current global economic situation), but told me once things started to recover, he expected me to work hard for a promotion and pay raise, as I was obviously overdue for it. Well at least now I have my marching orders!
Upon leaving the tasting bar, we then made our way into the heart of Soho, where I had to recount the funny story of the first time I'd ever been down Old Compton Street in Soho and remarked to a friend, "The men around here must be so disappointed, as there are no women in any of these bars!!" Later on, I realised the men were just fine with that state of affairs, thank you very much!
So we decided to stop in at one of my friend's favourite gay bars, and I was amused by the scene, as I'd never properly been in a full-on gay bar before. My friend got us drinks (and got hit on while he was up at the bar), and then as we sat together attracting a few stares (I was the ONLY girl in the entire bar, which was packed with about 80 people) he said, "I wonder if they think we're a straight couple who got lost?" I had to laugh at that, because you'd think the bright pink walls, rainbow decor everywhere, and large numbers of men in tight pants would let you know what kind of place it was!
Used the loos before we left (amazingly, there was a women's loo, but it was TINY, had only one stall, and had the seat up anyway), and then moved on as all of the boys in the bar continued to stare at me, wondering what on earth a girl had been doing in their gay bar!
We then started searching around for a place to have dinner, and the fourth place we went to, we finally managed to get a wait of under an hour, so we decided to go in and have a drink at the bar. I couldn't believe it then when as my friend ordered drinks for us, a random guy started talking to me. Actually rather cute and seemed very nice, and then my friend just jumped in with declarations of what a funny great girl I am. But I was most surprised, that I get hit on when out with another MAN? As I doubt there was any way that the random guy could have known my friend was gay simply based on appearance (he's a HUGE bearded Scottish guy who was obviously a rugby player in his youth), it struck me as absolutely hysterical.
Had dinner, where having critiqued my career, my friend now took me to task for my love life. Of course, as he's incredibly happily settled with his partner (who is a stellar guy, I might add), I think he's just like all of my married friends, who having found such happiness, want the same for me. Although of course, he had the "gay man's" perspective on it, which is that I need to kiss more guys just for the hell of it. Maybe it was just the beer, but at that moment he seemed to be making a very good point. It really has been far too long since I've made out with a boy, and goodness knows I'd really like to! (And I have far too many male friends for a single girl, at least some of them should be boys you've kissed!)
Finally, we went to one last bar near Covent Garden, where we ordered some really high-end tequila and some Coronas, and just sat sipping our tequila (nice stuff, that you would never pound as a shot), and drank our Coronas. By this point I was QUITE buzzed and wishing I'd skipped the beer in favour of water at dinner, but as my friend pointed out to me, we'd reached the point of perfect buzzed intoxication that so many people strive for, but rarely manage to achieve.
Indeed, after guzzling loads of water before I went to bed, there wasn't even a hint of a hangover in the morning, but still made me think it had somehow still been too much. My relationship with drinking is definitely complex at this point, but I realise overall I would have been happiest to just have had that one bottle of wine and drink water for the rest of the evening. Hard to do when you're out with a big giant Scotsman who thinks water is for sissies! (Although where's my ability to resist peer pressure? Argh!)
Overall a great evening out, gave me lots to think about (in terms of how I approach both my career and love life), and now we're already planning our next get-together!
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