Last Drinks on the Terrace

As the O&C was closing until September 1st on August 6th, I decided to take advantage of the last opportunity to have friends over the club by hosting a "Last Drinks on the Terrace" event. Quite easy, I set up a Facebook group and invited a few people, although I became quite alarmed when the attendance grew to over 20 members! Still, I crossed my fingers that not everyone would show up (and it ended up that whilst 20 people did show, only half of them were on the original invite, I don't know what happened to the other 10 that said they would come).

The Young Dutchman and I had agreed that it was time to swap back my iPad for his camera, although as I exited the Tube station at Green Park, I realised I'd forgotten the camera! D'oh! At least to his credit, the Young Dutchman still gave me my iPad back, and told me that I would simply have to join him for drinks at the Lansdowne the next day to return his camera.

I arrived a few minutes before 6:30 PM, when I'd told everyone I would be there, and was surprised to find Bex, an old friend from Cambridge, already there. When I told the chap at the front desk that I was expecting a few more guests, he told me that two more were already here. I'd had no idea my guests would be so punctual!

Bex and I then went and grabbed a bottle of white wine from the bar, where we ran into AR, another old friend from Magdalene. We enjoined her to grab a glass from the bar and join us up on the terrace, which after all was the point of this event!

When we arrived up on the terrace, I recognized my friend Liza from the ROSL, who was there with her friend Anastasia. We sat down and spoke with them for a bit, and then my friend (and co-host of this event!) Doro arrived, and I recognized the chap with her as one that I'd met at a cocktail party at the O&C last month. Even better I managed to remember his name, and asked as he arrived, "Is that Paddy you have with you?" and he laughed and greeted me as well (he remembered my name too!) and so I felt very impressed with myself for having remembered.

As we sat there chatting, much of my confusion about Doro's previous behaviour with Paddy was cleared up when we established that Doro has been single now for the past four months. (Strangely enough though, she'd suggested this party as a birthday celebration for her ex-boyfriend, who I had not realised was an "ex" at the time. So I suppose the break-up was somewhat amicable). After a bit JG arrived, and Tristan followed him not long after, so we had a suitable mix of guys and girls at the party. Then the entire Lansdowne Crew arrived as one larger group (The Young Dutchman, his friend Simon, Fiona and Stephanie), so the party was really kicking off. My friend Florie, who I had proposed for membership in the O&C, made it too, although at that point she revealed to me that only moments before downstairs had she FINALLY handed in her application!

A girl I play polo with arrived with her Russian friend, and asked me if I wanted to play polo that Sunday. Unfortunately, this is the point where I started to notice that I'd perhaps had too much wine, but much like sunburn, I think by the time you notice you're burning it's already too late. Hence, I found myself pestered by calls from a random Argentine guy the next day asking me to play, and I had to turn him down, something I really could have avoided if I'd just had the good sense to say no in the first place!

Eventually we retired from the terrace back down to the bar, and the hour grew late, until everyone started to go home. And then JG said to me, "Will you wait for me? We can split a cab."

And I really should have waited, I truly should have. But I'd really just had too much wine, and was feeling unpleasantly tipsy. On any other occasion, I'd probably have loved to be alone with JG and see where things went (oh, he's always fun to play with), but on this occasion I just wanted to go home and go to bed, and not deal with any of it.

Hence when Doro and Paddy decided to make a dash for the Tube, I decided to join them, and hopped on the last train to Oxford Circus. Except when I got there, I'd missed the connecting train, and so ended up having to take a cab from Oxford Circus anyway. Which in the end turned out to be more expensive than a cab simply taken from the front entrace of my club! All a ridiculous mess.

In sum, it was a good evening, and I was glad so many people had turned up and had a good time, but really my pleasure in it was really diminished by my inability to keep track of my wine consumption. So instead of having some fun with JG, I just ended up with an inexpensive cab ride home, and a bit of a throbbing head. Lesson learned: Wine DECREASES, rather than INCREASES your fun!