Priscilla Queen of the Desert

My friend Marjanne will be leaving this time next week to go to Melbourne, Australia for 8 months on a secondment as a doctor, so today we were having her leaving party.

Five of us met at the Palace Theatre at 2 PM to watch a matinee performance of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert", a stage production of a movie of the same name. I was surprised that the theatre was totally packed, although mostly with hen nights, as there was an entire group near us wearing pink feather boas, and I saw at least two girls wearing veils and sashes saying "Bride to Be." If I ever get married and any of my friends do that to me, I think I will disown them.

The show was actually pretty good, even if it took me a little while to figure out what was going on (as I had never seen the movie). Although the costumes were truly spectacular, and I could understand what one of the drag queens meant when s/he said, "Sometimes, don't you want to just get really all dressed up in sparkles and glitter?" After the show, I found myself rather wondering if I could wear body glitter and sequins, as I could really understand how much fun it would be to just go over-the-top all-out, with no limits on the glamour. Which I think is in essence, exactly what drag queens do!

After the show, we went back to Marjanne's flat, where she wanted to feed her cat. (Given that the cat is quite overweight and she barely gave her anything, I have to wonder a bit why we bothered). The others changed into more "evening appropriate" outfits, making me regret my choice of clothing, a slightly frumpy blue sweater and a pleated skirt. Very high-school prep, but perhaps not the best for dinner out in Notting Hill. Oh well, nothing to be done about it, although perhaps will plan a better outfit for next time.

We then drove to the restaurant in The Argentinean's car. The Argentinean is a friend of Marjanne's who she met through a meditation class, an Argentinean guy, born in New York, who has lived in the UK for the past 9 years. In his early 40's, and separated from his wife (but not divorced). A nice guy, looks much younger, and would probably be quite a great catch for many women if it weren't for the "separated but not divorced" thing. Still, I find him to be charming and lovely company.

At the restaurant, we had a table set for 12, and I found myself across from The Argentinean and next to Marjanne. People kept arriving late, and on my other side we were joined by Marjanne's Belgian cousin and his American girlfriend, although they both currently live in Basel, Switzerland, while working for the same architecture firm. The evening ended up with it basically being a conversation of the four of us, myself, The Argentinean, the cousin and the girlfriend.

I have to admit, this is about as well as it could have turned out, as The Argentinean was probably the most interesting person there the entire evening to talk to. I like him, as he's such an old-school gentleman (always instinctively knows that I'm supposed to have the seat by the wall, helps me with my coat, and of course I didn't have to touch the wine bottle once all evening). Also, he's well-travelled and interesting, and also has that easy charm and confidence of being willing to take charge. As we all filed into the restaurant, the obvious person to take charge and order wine and some starters was Marjanne. Yet, for some reason she kept trying to push the responsibility off to her ex-boyfriend (ah, how humorous is it when people pretend to be friends with their exes, although you could tell there was still some tension there), who also couldn't find it in him to take charge. Finally, I just called the waiter over and ordered the wine, and then The Argentinean seemed to build on my taking charge, and arranged for some platters of antipasto for the table. I had to smile at that, someone else who knows how to take charge and make things happen!

The dinner was actually really lovely, some really good Italian food. I've gotten so used to Italian food in London being such a disappointment, that it was a welcome surprise to eat at a place that, while not mind-blowingly good, was actually fairly nice. The parma ham and brochetti antipasti was lovely, and my fettuchini and meatball main actually reminded me a lot of the cooking of my nanny growing up, which is high praise indeed. Despite that we were running late for the bar where we were supposed to have drinks next, we stayed for dessert, as the food at this place was so good. I ordered this ball of ice cream rolled in chocolate powder, although I have to admit I inhaled some of the cocoa powder and was coughing quite a bit on it. Note for next time, get the tiramisu instead!

When we left the restaurant, I begged off and said good-bye to Marjanne, because I just couldn't imagine hanging around at some bar and drinking more would really be much fun. Let's face it, I think I'm hitting the time of year where I just become tired of alcohol.

So I started walking home, and then I figured that since I had a while to entertain myself on the walk, I would call my parents. They seemed delighted to hear from me, and provided good company for the journey home. Got back to my flat, switched over to calling them on Google, and we chatted for over an hour. Then, upon realising that it was still relatively early, I called my friend Shelley, hoping that I might somehow magically hit a good time for her and her toddler. I always feel badly that I don't call my friends with kids more, although you honestly never know when you're going to call at a good time. Indeed, when I rang, she was unloading groceries from the car, but begged me to call back in 10 minutes. It was 20 minutes later by the time we managed to reconnect, but she just seemed so delighted that I'd called, continuing to talk to me with her Bluetooth headset on even whilst continuing to cook dinner and deal with the toddler. Of course, even the constant interruptions to deal with the toddler amused me, because when I'd last seen this kid she wasn't speaking a word, but suddenly there was this constant babble of speech coming from her. How amazing!

We talked for well over an hour, until my friend had to admit it was time for bathtime and bed. Yet, she's so lonely at the moment, with her husband off in Japan and only her toddler to talk to, that I was glad I called and gave her some "adult" conversation for a bit. She told me with a wry tone, "Enjoy your freedom!" Indeed, as much as I hope for a husband and children to come along soon, I have to admit that my life at the moment has its advantages. Like the fact that I was able to stay up well past midnight, and just sleep in the next morning. I'm very lucky that way!