Clubland Has Talent

As it was Remembrance Day today, everyone was wearing their poppies, and at 11 AM on 11/11/11, everyone was supposed to stand for a moment of silence. I forgot about this however, and popped into the bank at 10:45 AM. Which then meant right as I was talking to the bank teller, a clock gonged for 11 AM and everyone stopped what they were doing and stood silently for 2 minutes. It was kind of fascinating actually, as this entire busy bank branch was suddenly frozen in time for two minutes.

In the evening I was supposed to go to "Clubland has Talent", a talent show where members of our respective clubs would be performing. There had been a big debate among the girls online about what to wear, as the dress code was confirmed as "black tie" only at the last minute. So we all generally went for cocktail dresses, and I wore a purple satin cocktail dress.

Joel called me as I was getting ready, and so of course I much preferred to sit and chat to him for a while about what he was getting up to this evening (nothing), so I got behind schedule and realised at the last that I didn't have time to meet the rest of the crowds for drinks at the Lansdowne first, and so hence just went directly to the Savage Club.

I was one of the first arrivals to the pre-dinner drinks, and so spent my time just standing around chatting, quite bored. I did see the Navy Boy, who is a nice chap I know from the Army & Navy Club. I always see him with a girl who is also in the Navy who I assume is his girlfriend (although come to think of it, I have no confirmation of this other than that I see them together frequently), and they are both lovely people. He'd specifically asked me if I were coming to this event, and so I found myself seated on a table with them.

When we sat down however, there were quite a few late arrivals, including the Navy Boy's girl. Since my own designated spot had empty chairs for late arrivals on each side, I instead went and sat with the Navy Boy, which gave us a good chance to catch up.

The dinner itself was a tad bit odd, with cinnamon on smoked salmon for the starter, which was truly bizarre. The main course was good however, and there was plenty of wine for the table, which the Navy Boy was good about pouring for the girls. What a relief, as it's always awkward when a boy doesn't pour the wine, but a gentleman like the Navy Boy took care of things.

The Navy Boy's Girl and another girl arrived late, midway through the main course, and she greeted me warmly and assured me that I needed to stay put chatting with Navy Boy. It was weird, but something about it suddenly made me wonder what their relationship is. I mean, they ARE a couple, right?

We then sang "God Save the Queen" before the Loyal Toast, the first time I've ever done that. Luckily I'm getting better at the words, and no longer automatically sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" when I hear that tune.

Then came the entertainment, which at the start consisted of us all singing along to a pianist playing World War One songs. I suppose it shows that I grew up with different television shows in my youth, because although they gave us song books with all of the lyrics in them, I just didn't know the tune to so many classic songs like "Doing the Lambeth Walk". The first song we sang however was "If You Were the Only Girl in the Word (And I Were the Only Boy)", which made me think of the scene in Downton Abbey recently where they sang that song. So at least I knew the tune to that one!

Then we got on to the more formal entertainments. The first act was a very sweaty overweight violinist who I feared might expire before he finished his piece. The second was a girl from the O&C singing two songs, the third was an older chap from the Savage Club who did a funny story in Cockney Slang, and then a girl from the Carlton singing a song from "Chicago". Finally however, and absolutely bringing down the house, was a chap from the Savage who sang a few songs in the style of Bertie Wooster. And even though I hadn't originally thought him particularly handsome when I'd first seen him, I have to say there is just something about a man who can sing. Every boy should find excuses to sing to girls, because there really is just something about it that makes a man seem attractive.

Then the dinner came to an end, so we all headed downstairs for post-dinner drinks. I talked to Will as we headed downstairs, and I apologized for so thoroughly ignoring him at his hockey game last week. He told me not to worry about it, and really just seemed thrilled that I'd shown up at all.

Back in the bar, I chatted to the American Guy I Once Hooked Up With for a bit, and we kept up the conversation well enough for a bit, as each of us probably thought the other was the most interesting person to chat to there out of a bunch of less than stellar choices. But after a bit you could tell that we were even boring each other, so in that wonderful way of mutual understanding, I bowed out of the conversation and tried to circulate for a bit. I chatted to Navy Boy for a while, but in truth I found myself with no motivation to stay on once he left. So when it was midnight and time to go if I were going to make the last Tube, I slipped out without saying good-bye to anyone.

As I walked to the Tube, I texted Joel: "Bah, rather dull company on the whole this evening (says the girl leaving the party at midnight). Rather wish I'd been more insistent that we do something instead. Oh well! Next time!"

At 1:40 AM he replied to me, "Sorry to hear that, Miss, but u do have urself to blame if u hang out with people less cool than me, which of course is everyone other than me. Will call 2morrow as will be in office and needing some amusement, which can usually be provided by finding out wot u did the night before. X"

That's so Joel, always managing to end the night on a good note and make me wish I'd spent it with him instead!