AGPU

It was my first day back at work today, which I was weirdly thrilled about. I love my parents and all, but there's something to be said for the normal routine. Plus, running around London was never exactly relaxing or really made me feel like I was "getting away", so it was just as well to go back to work.

After work it was the hash run though, and this week's was the AGPU, or Annual General Piss Up. It's the point at which we transfer over leadership positions for the next year, and just generally show why anarchy is a poor system of goverment. (No joke, the elections system works where whoever's name is shouted the loudest wins. This results in the elections of some people who were never running for office in the first place!)

The run was quite quick, although a good one as an experienced runner was setting it. Still, I was frustrated at how I struggle to keep up, as you'd think that after two years of doing this I would have gotten faster!

No cute guys showed up for the second week in a row, which was actually a huge relief, since my parents were still around. My old flatmate, Zu, came along specifically to meet my parents, even though she'd just gotten back from holiday in Croatia early that morning. My parents talked once again about how impressed they were by my friends, such a lovely, kind, nice and charming group of people.

Zu is one of the ones who still impresses me most, as we met so incredibly by chance. We both showed up to view a house to live in at the same time, and you know how people talk about "chemistry" or things like that? Usually they're talking about romantic relationships, but when I met Zu, it was this instant thought that "We should be friends". Within minutes we'd exchanged business cards and phone numbers, ended up living together for seven months, and she's still a brilliant friend to hang out with.

Surprisingly, I've never made any of my BEST friends this way, as those always seemed to grow slowly over time, but I still have to say whatever sixth sense is in operation for finding friends, while not perfect, is pretty darn good.

There's always a drinks stop at the AGPU some 500 yards before the end of the run, and my parents came along to that, as Princess (the guy who set the run) gave them a map and told them where to go. Princess is awesome like that. So they came along as we drank tons of questionable mixed drinks under the shadow of the Tate Modern, and then ran back to the pub.

In years past, the AGPU has been an absolutely mental night, ending with lock-ins (where the pub stays open past closing time, but locks in everyone who is still in the pub and lets nobody else in) and just overall craziness, but this year the vibe just wasn't there. So by 11:30 PM, I headed home, having had just a nice night out with good friends. Always a good way to have a run.