Zu's Birthday Party

After an intense morning at the gym, I was off to my old flatmate's birthday party, although with a stop at the rugby game first. Yet, after all of the running around at the gym, I wasn't actually keen to get going quickly, and arrived well into the second half of the rugby game.

Despite my tardy arrival, it seems that I was still ill-prepared, as you can imagine my horror upon opening my handbag to pay for the drink I'd just ordered, to find I had walked out of the house with my wallet. (Or at least I dearly hoped, as can you imagine how bad it would be if my wallet had been stolen? Luckily, when I got home I just found that I was an idiot and had left it on my dresser.) Yet, regardless of the reasons, it meant that I was now without any cash at all to pay for the drink in front of me, and there was a £5 minimum to use my card. With nobody else wanting a drink, I did the only think I could think of, and desperately sorted through my change purse, hoping that I might actually have nearly £4 in lose change. And would you believe it, without having any large pound coins, I actually managed to put together £3.65 - quite an expensive pint! - in change? Thank goodness, I was so embarrassed to have been caught out without money, and you can bet I'll learn to check my handbag before going out next time!

The game ended up as a draw between England and Scotland, and we then ended up chatting downstairs for a while. I found myself getting involved in a fascinating conversation with Matt, always one of my favourite people to talk to, about English bias against gingers (apparently lingering racism against Irish people, he figures), and how the backgrounds of various people all basically lead to being oppressed by the English, and how far we've come since our grandparents' generation. Eventually we got a Scotsman and an Ozzie involved, and all around it was one of the most interesting chats I've had over a pint in a long time.

The conversation was so fascinating, that I was absolutely crushed to have to leave at 9 PM to go to dinner for my old flatmate's birthday party. Not that I don't adore the Lady Z, but I was pretty sure that the conversation wouldn't be quite so intellectual where I was going...

I wandered around Leicester Square lost for a bit, before eventually having the good sense to walk into the Leicester Square tube station, look at the map in there, and find my way back out to the restaurant. In the end, I wasn't more than 10 minutes late. But I relate the story because HP, a later joiner to the party, claimed to have been lost in Leicester Square for almost AN HOUR. Given that it took me only 10 minutes to figure out how to sort myself out, and that she had the exact same information that I did, how on earth did she manage to stay so much more lost? {Sigh!} One more of the signs of how intolerant I am, I guess, is how little patience I have for stupid people. I don't know, but I find it awfully hard to have sympathy for you when you're just that dumb.

Anyway, I arrived just in time for dinner, which was served tapas style, with many plates coming out and all of us just sharing them together. I was starving when I arrived (I'd been holding off eating, knowing that I would be eating out soon), but before long I was totally full up, and there was still more food coming!

At the end of the meal, with no cash on hand, I handed over my credit card, and crossed my fingers that I hadn't run up against the credit limit (as that plane ticket to Australia on it is using up quite a bit of my available credit!) You can imagine my sigh of relief then when the waiter ran my card, and it went through. Hurrah!

After dinner, I spent some of my time talking to Dom, my friend Tara's boyfriend. He seems like a nice enough guy, although not without significant failings. (He's a smoker and gets VERY obviously irritated when he hasn't had a cigarette in a while). Oh well, I suppose these are the choices we all make. Perhaps why I'm single and why Tara is with someone is that I look for reasons NOT to date someone, while she looks for reasons to go for it. Maybe she has the better attitude about it....but to be honest I'm not sure I'm missing out. Still, Dom seems quite sweet on her, so I guess they're a well-suited couple.

I also got a chance to meet my friend Martina's new boyfriend, and I was almost ashamed of myself for being a bit surprised when he turned out to be black. After all, she'd never mentioned it, but then again, why should she? The colour of a man's skin really doesn't matter, it's the content of his character that does, and she seems happy with him. I guess it's just like you can be momentarily startled when you meet someone who you imagined as blonde and they turn out to be brunette. Doesn't really make a difference, but does shake your mental picture a bit!

Mostly though, I just ended up talking to John, the Lady Z's boy. Given that she is following this guy all of the way to Abu Dhabi, I of course have had my reasons to be suspicious of him, but I have to say that every time I meet him, the more I like him. Just seems like an honourable, decent bloke. In the end, I think I approve. Looking forward to next weekend's leaving party, where all of John and Z's friends will be there, and we can have one last big bash before they go.

After dinner, more people kept showing up, including Princess and Rob, who had been at the rugby earlier. I chatted to them for a bit, but quite quickly realised I was getting awfully tired. Once I made it to midnight, having stayed all through dinner, drinks, and even some dancing, I decided that I'd done my bit and gave myself leave to go home (in time to catch the last Tube!) Yet perhaps being a bad friend, I decided to not bother saying good-bye to Z, knowing that she would pout and try to pester me into staying until I'd surely missed the last train. Hence I slipped out and simply texted her, sure that there were enough other friends there to stay and party with her. I think we both had a much more enjoyable evening when I was home and happy in my bed by 1 AM!