I got up early in the morning to play squash with Sophie. We had a good match, as competitive as always. I won 4 matches (maybe 5? I lost count), while she won one. I think she's happier as long as she wins one match, so on the whole it was good, even as much as I hate to lose.
I also had fun telling her stories of Drunk Girl from the night before...it just felt good to vent to someone who I was sure would be as horrified by the tale of mixing white wine and champagne as I was. As expected, Sophie was totally grossed out, and asking the same question I was: "What sort of person DOES that?"
After the game, we went to take showers and change, except we found that there was no hot water! Hence showers were very brief, and we were definitely cooled down quite quickly. They apologised at the front desk when I told them, so I hope they get that one fixed soon!
After our frigid showers, we went off to the O2 in Greenwich to go to this show, Appasionata. Sophie had apparently gotten free tickets through her work, so it seemed like a perfect post-squash game, particularly as we're both into horses.
We were pretty hungry after the game however, so we stopped to have lunch at Wagamamma's. I enjoy these times with Sophie, where we just get together and chat, although I found myself really dodging her questions about my love life. I just don't want to mention the Tall South African at all, as with his lack of contact lately, it seems like that might be over (not like it ever should have been "on" in the first place).
She mentioned that she'd been on a few dates with a guy who she'd met at a friend's wedding, and she would bring him to the jazz evening on Thursday, except that Witty Windsor Boy would be there. I knew she had a crush on Witty Windsor Boy, except had assumed that nothing had ever happened, as there's nearly a 10-year age gap there (much like me and the Tall South African, I suppose...so maybe?) And then when she cackled that on Thursday she couldn't bring anybody home because her flatmate would be home, and Witty Windsor Boy couldn't bring anybody home because he'd been sleeping with his flatmate...wow. My head snapped. So something HAD been going on with Sophie and Witty Windsor Boy? And who sleeps with their flatmate? A more stupid idea, I cannot imagine. Still, despite being in the big thick mess of it, the thought of seeing him seemed to make Sophie smile, so I guess that's a good thing...
The time came to pay the bill, and Sophie actually gave me her debit card and told me the pin number (!), except then warned that there might not be any money on it. It's so strange, as Sophie seems permanently broke, with not even an extra penny to her name. I have so many things in common with Sophie, but luckily my attitude towards finances is not one of them.
We then went into the arena for the show, found our seats, and enjoyed the spectacle. It was much like a show in Argentina I once saw, the Opera Pampa. The first few acts were just horses doing dressage moves, although I was stunned when this one guy came out who had a horse trained with something equivalent to what looked like the Pat Parelli method. The horse followed him so beautifully, so attentive to him, that it was beautiful to watch. Then, the back gate opened and another horse came out. Now, needing that much attention on one horse, how would it work with two horses? Except he worked with both of them in beautiful symphony. Then, just when I was in awe of this, they gate opened, and another horse came out! Every single time I was just in total awe of how he controlled these horses, without ever touching them, just through his body language. Eventually there were FIVE horses out there, all circling, backing, moving and weaving in perfect symphony according to the movements of this guy, without him ever laying a hand or a whip on them. It was a stunning display of horsemanship.
They also had some stunt riders, who would flip over the backs of horses, doing standard vaulting-type stuff. It was interesting, because the one problem they seemed to have was keeping the horses going, so they had a guy with a longe whip standing at one side, and seemed to really rely on the cheering of the crowd to keep the horses activated and moving. One guy even did a "round the world", managing to go UNDER the horse, and come up the other side, all while the horse was galloping! Totally insane, but totally cool.
The best had to be though, a guy who came out standing on two horses (one foot on the backs of each), and with a third horse out front, and then took them over a series of jumps. And as though that wasn't hard enough, he then came out again with THREE horses in front, still standing on the back of two horses, and then took them over two jumps. He almost fell off on his first attempt, so when he did it successfully the second time, the crowd just went wild.
They also did a comedy act with a donkey, who was amazingly well-trained... At one point, the trainer working with him got the donkey to lay on his back, all four feet up in the air, and then stay there, even while these little miniature ponies galloped all around the place like mad. I've never seen a horse quite so well-trained, much less a donkey!
One of the final acts was two Icelandic ponies running around with some dressage horses, and they had attached sparklers to the legs of the ponies. I have no idea how those ponies didn't totally flip out about that, particularly as then they made them run around in the fog too. Totally impressive, and a good show.
Afterwards, since we didn't want to fight the crowds on the Tube, we wandered around the O2 for a bit (it was the first time either of us had been there), and I was really impressed with what they had done with the space. For those who remember, the O2 was originally the "Millennium Dome", which was this big stadium built for the Millennium, one of the biggest ones ever built. Except that they then eventually found that it was too big to be profitable, so O2, the company that bought it, had actually divided this massive space into several smaller venues. In some ways, it was much like a big shopping mall, except just with restaurants and theaters.
On the long journey home, I had fun sharing more stories about Drunk Girl with Sophie, who also knew the story about Drunk Girl from New Year's Day, although didn't know who she had been with. This time, unlike last night with Will, I was more clever and pleaded ignorance.
Sophie was mostly complaining however about how she wanted to have a quiet night in, but she was worried that her flatmate would be home watching terrible television like "Countryfile". I'm realising that Sophie is in a living situation much like mine six months ago, and I feel for her for that reason. And I hadn't realised how much better for my mental health it has been to live in my own place, my little sanctuary that is all my own. I hope Sophie manages to eventually get out and find a place of her own too! And so I'll cut Sophie some slack for being a little depressed these days...it's tough when you live in a place with a total nutter.
When I got home, the Young Dutchman was online, so I told him stories of my day out, and related the e-mail exchange that Sophie had shown me she and the head of the Under-35's Committee at the Lansdowne had with Drunk Girl.
Apparently the head of the U35's at the Lansdowne had e-mailed Drunk Girl to say basically, "Hey, what's up with you arranging a party at the Lansdowne for your birthday?" Drunk Girl then wrote to Sophie to ask, "Hey, who is this guy, and why is he asking me about my birthday?"
Sophie replied, "He's head of the U35's at the Lansdowne, and is kind of curious as to why you're organising a party at a club that is not your own."
Drunk Girl wrote back, "Well, I thought since the Young Dutchman had his birthday drinks at the Lansdowne, that it was fine."
Sophie responded, "Well, the thing is, the Young Dutchman IS A MEMBER OF THE LANSDOWNE, and besides, over half the people he invited were Lansdowne members anyway."
Drunk Girl then replied, "Oh, I thought he was just a member of the Carlton. And anyway, I know there were like 80-90 people on that list, but lots of them were uni friends from outside of London who won't be able to make it, but I just had to include them on the list to be polite. I'm really only expecting about 30-40 people."
At which point, Sophie threw up her hands and forwarded the entire exchange back to the club committee, saying, "She just doesn't get it..."
When I told all of this to the Young Dutchman, he told me: "I am dumbstruck. She doesn't even really know me, so bring up my birthday is WAY out of order. Ban her." So things are not looking good for Drunk Girl these days...
I changed my outfit and did my hair, and then headed out to a friend's house party in the evening. She lived right within my postcode, so I was able to walk there, although it took me a bit longer than I had expected (and it was a bit colder out than I had anticipated!)
I got stuck in the kitchen with the crowds, but had an enjoyable time chatting with Super-Social Scottish Guy, who has been sort of "dating" this girl recently, which makes him so much more tolerable. He's just chilled out in general, now that the issue of a girlfriend seems to have been resolved. And I have to say, from the bit I've talked to her, she seems really lovely and nice. Good match!
He made me laugh though when he asked me about the "Prince William look-alike" who I had been with at Sophie's birthday party. I of course just assured him that the boy was a friend (Super-Social Scottish Guy had wondered if it was a boyfriend, which tells me we probably hadn't been as subtle about our flirting as I had hoped), and Super-Social Scottish Guy was telling me what a nice chap he thought the guy was, how much he'd enjoyed meeting him, and telling me that we needed to get him out to more events. So the Tall South African made a good impression. Let's see if I can just keep everybody from finding out too much about him, otherwise that good impression won't last for long!
I then found myself talking to the Head of Inter-Club, telling more stories about Drunk Girl (it's a popular topic these days), and he mentioned that it was common knowledge that she had given a blow-job to a gentleman of our acquaintance who is...shall we say...not the most attractive of men? Seriously, the thought made me vomit in my mouth a little. And when you add that one on to all of the other stories, you realise the girl's reputation is absolutely in tatters.
And there's a tiny part of me that is almost upset on behalf of feminism. Because in all of these stories, there's a guy involved. And yet socially, none of these guys are taking nearly as much heat as she is. She's going to get herself banned, ostracized, and nobody likes her, yet the crowd will keep welcoming in and inviting the men who were part of these stories to all of the parties and events.
Now, to be fair, none of the men in these stories have had such a terrible track record of getting drunk and behaving inappropriately at events, or of scheduling parties at clubs that are not their own. There are so many ways in which she is worse, and worthy of banishment in a way that these men are not. Yet, it does irritate me somewhat, that as far as feminism has come, there are certain ways in which the world has not changed at all. And so the men get away with it, while the women don't.
I did enjoy chatting to the Head of Inter-Club however, and it once again struck me what a nice guy he is, and how irritating it is that I can't make myself be attracted to him. I'm definitely passing up on a good opportunity there, although I think I should try harder to introduce him to more girls, as he's such a lovely guy, he really deserves a nice girl.
The Young Scotsman had been present at this party, but I barely spoke to him all evening. I sort of wondered if we would connect later when everybody had a bit more to drink and was more relaxed, but at that point he and Georgie had slipped off outside and were bonding intensely, just the two of them. She'd had a bit to drink and was obviously keen to have a bit of extra-curricular fun, so I wasn't about to get in the way of that. Although I did find it a bit disappointing, as Georgie had just been telling me the previous night about how she had a new boyfriend and things were going really well between them. And yet here it was obviously out-of-sight, out-of-mind where the new boyfriend was concerned.
At one point when I realised I was getting a bit tipsy, I switched to drinking water, which got me sorted in no time flat while everyone else kept drinking. Some crazy girl then kept telling everyone that I give the best hugs, and was then continually hugging me at random points throughout the evening, which I thought bizarre but just tried to shrug off. But everyone was obviously still getting drunker while I was getting more sober...
People were also having difficulty getting taxis, so I put people onto my favourite cab company (they must have made about £200 off of me that night, I sent so many people home in their cabs!) and then finally at the end of the evening, sent the Young Scotsman home with Georgie and set out for the 20 minute walk home myself. I almost wondered if I should have taken a cab, but I think the walk was bracing and good exercise. When I got home at 4 AM, I was surprised to see the Tall South African pop up on Skype. I was so surprised by this (at 4 AM!) that I messaged him to say, "You're not REALLY awake, are you?" But no response.
The next morning I realised that I haven't heard or spoken to the Tall South African at all since Tuesday night, when he was on the train, talking to me, and then suddenly hung up saying that he needed to call Lotte. I wonder what happened during that conversation? I try not to think about it, but I think it's a pretty good indication that it's time to let it go. Let's hope this is the kick in the arse I need to go out and meeting some new people. But right at that moment? It was time to head to bed...
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