A Trio Of Parties
Dec. 9th, 2018 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripe
Indeed I was to come back here on Thursday ahead of going to our office Christmas Party. Going here had very much been a last minute thing as I had hoped I could have made FURUM but the twin demons of mortgage repayments and Brexit put paid to that. Frustratingly everyone finished work by 5pm and went home to change, a situation that wasn’t particularly great for me as I had a two hour round trip in rush hour for an event that started at 7pm. Aidan kindly drove me into town before heading off to meet a couple of colleagues in a bar, something to which I was invited but I declined as I didn’t want to get too drunk with so much to do ahead of me going away at the weekend. With basically two hours to kill, I dropped by the Christmas Market for some Knobibrot before heading into the university area as I knew there were a number of geocaches there. I thought I might as well see what I could find but in rush hour, keeping my activity away from muggles did prove difficult. This was particularly the case with the nano right outside the union building, the very place I had been just a month earlier for Damnation. I ended up finding five caches in the end, including one surrounded by woodlice making it a trial much akin to one of those on I’m A Celebrity. I was particularly pleased with one of my finds but as the drizzle started to gather in the night sky, after a while I thought it would be best to head back into the city centre and go to the party.
I had a fair bit of trepidation about going to the work’s do, but this is often the case. Consequently I continued my tradition of going to Brewdog for a beer beforehand, sampling Northern Monk’s entry into The Twelve Beers of Christmas event. Fruity and figgy, it was a strong contender and I enjoyed chatting to the staff a bit before heading to the event. Overcome with nerves, I spent a while circling the venue before heading inside at around 7:45pm. The company had hired the top floor of Casa Colombiana and the heat that hit me upon entering the roof space was overwhelming. It was also quite loud and I did have my doubts but as the free booze flowed and the excellent buffet was presented - the beef stew and chickpea croquettes were particular winners for me - I became more relaxed. I ended up spending a lot of time talking to one of the directors and the far right ex-hooligan member of staff with a heart of gold, who regaled us with stories of his youth. The early days of my boss’s previous company were explored too and I did have a thoroughly enjoyable time. However, the fizzy beer and volume of food I ate did combine to leave me feeling quite bloated and so after some of the office girls wanted to take pictures of me with a crown on my head, I made my leave and headed home, getting back at 11:30pm to find Wolfie and his friend Adam playing a card game in the front room. I had to had back anyway as the boss had scheduled an important conference call at 10am on Friday which he wanted me to attend.
Wednesday had seen Yunas come to visit, eventually after he had delayed his arrival by an hour and a half due to mild illness, meaning I had to do most of my holiday prep on Friday. Wolfie and I did spend some time together though, specifically upstairs before sharing a couple of beers while watching Simon Reeve’s excellent documentary on the Mediterranean. We then had to have a reasonably early night as I needed him to drive me to Wakefield Kirkgate station for 9:40am when I was due to catch a train to London. It had to be this specific train as Seadragom’s tickets were only valid on Grand Central services while Molly was travelling down from Bradford and I had promised her I would guide her around London as she hadn’t been on her own before. Looking at the train status, I was fearing standing for two hours as our tickets obligated us to surrender our seats in the event of others standing but we snagged two unclaimed reserved seats and the train never got full enough to warrant us giving up our places. The journey was made slightly longer by having to stop due to some trespassers on the line who wanted to take a picture of the engine, but it was great speaking to Molly, who I had barely spoken to before. I enjoyed learning about her future plans and her art, and the ride down to London was incredibly swift because of it.
We were headed to the Londonfurs Winter Party, my first in what must be something like ten years, which was held at the Amber Bar near Moorgate. Navigating there was pretty straightforward, even with Molly’s Fursuit bag, as it was just three stops on the tube and a very short walk. Once there, we dumped our bags in the Fursuit Lounge before going to meet people, with me being incredibly surprised just how easy it was to meet people. Normally when I go to a London meet, I barely know anyone, but many of the old crew were there plus having attended two UK fur cons this year undoubtedly helped. It was great meeting Churchill’s crew again, having gone out drinking with them back in February, while he continued his usual thing of always dropping a beer at every meet he attends. Seeing Shaman was a pleasant surprise and we shared a pleasant sausage together from the German Bratwurst seller in the courtyard upon which Amber is set. Frio was here too, while it was also great meeting Tungro, Washu, Entei-rah, Gamepopper, Draegarth and Tom Broadbent again. Gothicat was there in her finery and I managed to break her once again with my silliness. She had booked a hotel room with Bishop, someone else who it was great to see again, and a few of us went back there halfway through the eleven hour meet to chill. Here there was a little cross dressing and some snacking, but generally it was just a catch up. I had to leave early though as Ent had a Christmas card to give to me and I needed to show Molly how to get back to Moorgate station. Regarding the event as a whole, I was fearful that it would just be a nightclub vibe but with the loud music not starting until 4pm and being confined to one room, it was very easy to meet people. The tone was set early on when I found it very easy to meet friends and be introduced to new people and while the bar itself was one of those seedy trying to be exclusive things, the bar staff were great and I really felt happy there. The only issue was the bog troll who wanted to be paid to dispense soap and paper towels, which with a bladder as weak as mine meant a hefty bill would be inevitable. Thus I just stopped washing my hands, it was the cheaper way, and in the end I just stopped going at all but then someone had been sick in the urinal and the atmosphere was choking.
I was booked on the 6am flight to Pristina out of London Luton so I had to leave the Londonfurs Party earlier than I would have liked at 8:45pm. However it was starting to thin out by then and there is something to be said for leaving on a high. Due to my Kosovan adventure, I didn’t bring my Fursuit to the meet and I didn’t really miss it, having too much fun socialising. Alas I did need to leave though and was sad doing so, but considering I only got four and a half hours of sleep last night, I don’t think I could have pushed it any later. I got back to King’s Cross just after 9pm and caught the 9:21pm service to Luton. On the platform a semi-drunk student caught my eye and we started chatting, continuing our conversation on the train as he was going to St Albans. He was quite drunk and kept saying the same thing about his friend and his new girlfriend, who he had just left in London due to their arguing. Considering I had been out all day and only had five and a half pints (plus the train beer I had just picked up at Marks & Spencer) I was feeling pretty cool with myself until I lacerated my finger with the top of the beer can (it was one of those you rip off the whole lid and use the can like a cup) and it wouldn’t stop bleeding for forty-five minutes. Still, my new friend disappeared into the ether at St Albans, I got to Luton Airport Parkway via the shuttle bus and having grabbed my complimentary beer for being an Ibis Silver Member, I settled in my room to relax a short while before a very short night’s sleep.
