Made it home around 3 AM (I think), and even more impressively dragged myself up and back over to the club in time for my 11 AM squash game with David (guy in a relationship I met through the Young Dutchman who always looks out for me). I'll admit, I was feeling less than my best, and sort of wondered if I was going to pass out or vomit in the middle of the game. Yet, after a shaky start, I actually found the running around felt really good. Maybe squash games are the ultimate hangover cure? I was wiped at the end of an hour, and so David and I passed another half-hour just sitting in those chairs down there, chatting about nothing in particular. Finally we realised we should go get some food, so we both showered and changed, and then walked towards Picadilly in search of food. (Note to self: Really useful if you remember a hairbrush when you're going to wash your hair at the club. As it was, went for some natural finger-styling).
Then, as we were walking to Picadilly, we ran into a St. Patrick's Day parade! It was the coolest thing, and we just had a blast watching and taking pictures of all the bagpipers, Irish step dancers, fiddle-players, and even Carnival-esque dancers and drummers. It was so much fun, I just couldn't stop smiling as we kept laughing and pointing out other cool things. I think we could have stayed there for ages, except our stomachs were rumbling from a lack of food!
David led me to a pub he knew of, that turned out to just be one of the best pubs I've ever been to. The staff there were super-nice, opened the upstairs dining room for us (which was really lovely), brought us drinks and amazingly delicious food, were super-attentive and let us run a huge tab even though we never even gave them a credit card or any money. We had the most amazing lunch, and then they showed the England vs. Scotland rugby match on this absolutely massive screen. Since we'd picked our seats before anybody else, we had a perfect spot for viewing on this great corner couch where we holed up with loads of Guinness (we'd been inspired by the St. Paddy's Day parade).
The game was incredibly exciting, tied score nearly the whole way through, until Johnny Wilkinson came out on the field and won the day for England. Also there was a fox running around on the field at the start of the game (nobody could catch it), and the ref actually got injured halfway through the game, and they had to bring on a replacement ref! I'd never seen the ref get injured before in any sport!
In the end, it was just a perfect day. Squash, parade, great food, fabulous rugby. At the end of it all, David and I were asking each other, "Can we just sack out here and take a nap?" Totally unplanned, but aren't the best days always that way? We were constantly remarking to each other, "This has been such a great day!" I sort of had to wonder how David's girlfriend must feel about him spending the whole day hanging out with another girl, but he seems like such an up-and-up guy, that perhaps she just knows she can trust him and doesn't worry about it.
It was my dad's birthday, so I'd been meaning to call him in the evening. Except that there was no response at my brother's place. Kept calling for hours, until my brother showed up online and told me that they'd been down at my uncle's place for dinner. Tried calling my folks' cell phone, except that wasn't working either! I actually had some work to get done, so I stayed up until 2 AM, when it was 9 PM in the US, and managed to get my dad on the phone just as they had walked in the door. Success! So even though it was no longer his birthday in the UK, I'd gotten to sing to my dad on his birthday in the US. What a lucky daughter I am!
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