This evening was the Inter-Club Ceilidh at the Caledonian Club. The Caledonian Club is a private club where you have to be Scottish to join, and the Inter-Club event is where all of the members under-35 of the various clubs in London are invited to all gather together and meet one another.
I arrived, was greeted by a man in a kilt at the door who took my name, and then proceeded upstairs to the champagne reception. In an attempt to be chic, I brought a clutch instead of my usual handbag, and a pashmina wrap I'd bought in Argentina. Except that I found trying to hold a clutch and a pashmina and a champagne glass all at the same time was beyond my abilities. So I eventually just stuck my clutch and pashmina down on a table somewhere, as I just couldn't quite manage the fancy balancing act that some people had going on.
I guess in another sign of how alcohol can really help social situations, the whole scene was tremendously awkward at first. People who knew each other were greeting each other, but I found it very hard to break into social groups. Thankfully at one point I got talking to a girl with a fur wrap, bright red lipstick, and a dramatic 1940's-style hairdo with a twisted bouffant curl at the front. She definitely had the attention of the crowds, and thankfully was kind enough to bring me into her circle after I discovered she was also a member of the O&C. Made me think I need to be more creative about my wardrobe and hairstyle choices for these things.
After enough standing around talking over our champagne, there was a loud rap with the gavel to let us know it was time to be quiet, and then the room absolutely shook with the sound of a bagpiper, who piped us in to dinner. It's funny as you normally hear bagpipes outdoors, you forget until you're in an enclosed space quite how loud they are!
So we went into dinner, where we all had our names listed by our tables, which were all named after famous Scottish dances. I found my name at the "Dashing White Seargeant" table, and everyone joked about how we all felt like we were at a wedding, asking, "Bride's side or groom's side?" Indeed, just like a wedding, all couples were seated together, although my table had even numbers, with one spare man obviously intended to be my seatmate for the evening. Yet, as we filed into dinner quite haphazardly, I actually ended up seated between two women, and only got to talk to the single man occasionally over the other diners. Pity, because he was definitely cute.
Even more bizarrely at dinner, we found that our table had only been half-set, and we were missing quite a bit of cutlery. Luckily we were all fine for the first course, a salmon pate with smoked salmon. (This was a Scottish meal, so of course there would be salmon!) Then for the main, there was haggis with neaps and tatties, making me laugh, as it was like we were having a Burns Night dinner in September instead of January!) I poured a little bit of my whiskey over the haggis (like gravy), but saved most of it for sipping. Although I was so embarassed, as when we saw everyone served, our end of the table started eating, only to see that half the table didn't eat, as they didn't have cutlery! So those of us who had dessert cutlery quickly passed it around when we saw what had happened, but how weird, eh?
Finally after dinner, it was time to dance!
The dancing was loads of fun, as there was a good mix of group dances and couple dances, and the ethos of the evening generally seemed to be that you just danced with whoever asked you to dance, and everyone had a blast. It was like American square dancing, where the musicians called out the steps, but of course everyone got totally lost anyway, and it all descended into chaos. We even did the Virginia Reel, and I have to say that my partner and I were the only ones to successfully reel down our entire group. Loads of fun!
I was surprised when the music ended at midnight, as I couldn't believe the time had passed so quickly! Our last dance was "Auld Lang Syne" (of course!) where everyone formed a circle with linked crossed hands, and then we all kept rushing forward to the middle to meet one another, and then back out again, making everyone trip over themselves with laughter. Finally ended with random couples just twirling each other around, including some of the boys in kilts dancing with each other.
Then it was time for a midnight breakfast, so we all went downstairs where they were serving kedgeree, which was quite good, although I think we were still all stuffed from our huge dinner!
We then went outside and enjoyed the warm evening air for a bit, just talking and chatting, the effect of all of that whiskey and wine finally making people a bit more social and friendly. I talked to a number of nice people, and we were eagerly all making plans to see each other again at the next one of these events next month.
Then back at the bar, all of the boys in their kilts were eagerly trying to make plans to have an informal ceilidh upstairs, but for the first time in my experience, there were more boys than girls who wanted to dance!
Alas, as it was getting close to 2:30 AM, I decided that it was time for me to head home. Although I was surprised when the porter at the desk seemed quite uncomfortable with letting me go out alone, and was insisting that he call a cab for me. Now, a cab from this part of town would have been quite expensive, so I really didn't want to go for it. Yet this porter was so insistent, that finally I lied and said I was within walking distance, but this porter then insisted I call him once I got home safely, and gave me the number of the front desk to call.
So I walked out, and then got on a night bus, which seemed to be heading all over the place. When I finally thought I'd figured out the right location, I jumped off the bus, only to discover that I wasn't in the right place at all! Given that it was approaching 3 AM, I finally just gave in and hailed a cab passing on the street, so all of my attempts to save money were really for naught. Got home safely, called the club desk and assured the porter that I was home safely, and then just basked in the delight of finally being able to take my shoes off. Owww, after all of that dancing and walking, boy did my feet hurt!
No comments:
Post a Comment