Friends of Friends

This evening I had been invited by a young man of my acquaintence to the Carlton Club for drinks (it was apparently going to be their Younger Member's drinks night), but given that I worry this young man might be one of those who mistakes friendliness for interest, I was rather looking for excuses to get out of it. (Even though normally going out for Younger Member's drinks at other clubs is one of my favourite things). Plus, I'd heard a rumour that Drunk Girl was going to be there, and I just wanted to avoid that.

So, when a friend of mine from my undergrad days said that I should meet up with another friend of hers who had recently moved to London, although I'm usually a bit wary of such "set-up" girl's dates, I was game for it.

Since the girl said she worked in Trafalgar Square, I'd suggested meeting at the Texas Embassy Cantina, London's pathetic answer to Tex-Mex. It's definitely not the best Tex-Mex ever, but it fit the bill of being close to Trafalgar Square and usually appealing to Americans.

I was rather wondering how it would all work out, but as it turned out, the girl was absolutely lovely. Originally from Texas, had met my friend when they were both doing MBAs in Chicago, and when I asked her where she lived in London, she was just down the street from me! So it was brilliant in that I was able not only to tell her about London in general, but about her new neighbourhood specifically. We had a great dinner (we were both keen for chimichangas), and we talked about so many things that I now take for granted, like the different pace of life here and the sense of work-life balance that is so much more European than American. It suddenly made me realise why I love living here, and how impossible it would be for me to return to the US at this point in my life.

Then, as she was feeling a bit under the weather and wanted to go home early, I then walked down Pall Mall, and because it was so damn freezing out, stopped in at the O&C, where the monthly Member's Reception was just finishing up. I ran into a bunch of our new members, who were thrilled to see me and told me they'd been promoting the upcoming Rotational Dinner on my behalf. We then retired down to the bar for drinks, just talking and chatting and hanging out.

In a final bit of randomness, earlier in the day on Facebook, a doctor friend of mine had mentioned that a friend of his was going to be at the O&C this evening and we should meet up. Exchanged our numbers for us and everything. Given that I'd been out at dinner earlier, I figured it would be impossible for the two of us to get the timing right and actually meet up, but I sent her a text that I was in the club anyway. So while I was sitting and chatting with the new members my phone started buzzing so I looked down to check on it. I was then surprised when I was in the bar and my phone started buzzing. I looked at it, and was surprised when then this girl approached me...she'd figured she'd try giving me a call, saw me searching for my phone, and then figured out who I was!

So I went and joined her and her friends for a bit... Turns out it was another random group of people (friends of friends) who had all just run into each other this evening as well. I ended up having drinks with them for a while, and they were actually hugely entertaining.

Finally at around 11:30 PM we all made our way back to the Tube and parted ways, and I'd overall had a lovely evening with all of these friends of my friends. I must do this sort of thing more often!