Happy Cinco de Mayo! Nobody really seemed to be acknowledging the Mexican holiday that Americans have co-opted, but this evening was a drinks reception at the club, doing the classic "talk to potential new members" thing.
When I finished my last call, even though it was still only 5 PM, I dashed out, because I had been working from home and I didn't want to be there when my flatmate got home. Yes, I am a total wimp who has been avoiding my flatmate.
I got to the club, and just as I was coming around a corner I almost ran smack into the Wild Welshman. What luck! I love how I can just show up and he always seems to find me... So we went up to the terrace, and just hung out for about an hour, chatting about our holidays and catching up. We ended up being totally late for the event we were supposed to go to, as we were just enjoying being out there in the sunshine. And I can't help but hope that he was enjoying my company too much for it to want to end.
At last however, we went inside, where I found myself doing the usual cocktail party banter thing. Kept the champagne going, talked to people, and even did an obligitory tour of the club. Still, I have to be honest, I was pretty bored with it all, and took the opportunity to go talk to friends. The Irishman was there, and absolutely exhausted (he's been working so hard at his job he's been sleeping about 3 hours a night), and so I just let him rant for a bit about his job. Hopefully it will all be over soon, but I don't think the bace he's working at is at all sustainable.
I also chatted a bit to TK, a friend of the Wild Welshman, who spent all evening chatting to just one particular girl. And it was funny, because the girl TK was chatting to didn't seem particularly gorgeous (in fact her dress was very ill-advised, as it clung in all of the wrong spots), but it really gave me hope, as TK seemed absolutely besotted with her. I guess you never know what is going to attract some people.
Finally the free champagne dried up, so we all retired to the bar at the end of the event. The Wild Welshman got me a drink, and we had a huge circle of us all sitting around the table. At one point, I spied a chap I'm friends with through Inter-Club (but who is not an O&C member), and so, probably fortified by the effects of too much wine, went over and sat with him and his friend (who was an O&C member). Talked to them for quite a bit, and got them excited about coming to the Rotational Dinner in June.
Then, after quite a bit of wine (I blame the Wild Welshman for this, as he kept buying me drinks!) I heard a familiar voice behind me, saying, "That's got to be her, I'd know her voice anywhere." Indeed I recognized the same voice in return, and was delighted to be greeted by my friend Sophie! Soph lives in Germany, but uses the O&C as her home base in London when she's here on business. She hadn't told me she would be in town, so it was a delightful coincidence that we just happened to run into each other in the bar. We chatted about this and that, and when I realised that both she and her fiancee were in London for the weekend, urged them to come to a BBQ happening on Saturday with plenty of Magdalene people. How fortuitous that we'd run into each other, as now I'd sorted her weekend plans!
The random run-ins for the evening weren't quite over yet however, as I was standing and chatting with Soph, when I suddenly heard another voice behind me exclaiming, "It IS you!!" OMG, it's the boy from last March who never called me! Admittedly, it had been so long since I'd met him, that although I remembered his name began with an A, I totally got it wrong. "Adam?" "That's my friend, who I'm here with. I'm Andy." Right. Andy. Of course. He didn't seem too put off by my inability to remember his name however, immediately wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me in close to him, obviously being quite touchy-feely due to the combination of wine he'd had with his friend that evening and the surprise of seeing me.
Surprised by this unexpected run-in, I listened to his tale of how he'd lost my card, found it, lost it again, then found it and figured it was too late to call me. I didn't believe any of it, but was so touched by his animated storytelling, that I told him now that he'd seen me again, he should call me. I even offered to give him another copy of my card so that he'd have my number again for sure. But he insisted that he had my card now, and he'd call me on Saturday at the latest (we negotiated this, since he was going to be in surgery the next day).
And can you guess what happened? Kind of makes me wonder what the point of the second time around was...
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