Dinner at the Savoy
Well it's christmas time again, so everyone is having their christmas parties, including Macquarie bank that Jo works for. They had their party on Monday night at the Savoy, black tie affair. Jo was generous enough to invite me along, which was very much appreciated.
I went through a lot of rigmarole to find a suit. I didn't really want to wear my double breasted one because I felt that it was a little 'old', though it turns out it would have been fine. So I borrowed one from one of the guys at work, and found the legs way to long (which is pretty surprising, I'm not exactly short myself). I ended up hiring the suit from a place my aunt (who is a costume designer) suggested near leciester square.
The shirt they offered me was brand new, in a plastic sleeve, so I had to rush home to iron it before heading to the Savoy. When I got home I discovered there was no ironing board (thjank goodness there was an iron!) so I had to iron the shirt on the floor, which was not very easy at all.
I ended up almost running to the tube, and if I hadn't gotten totally lost trying to find the Savoy from Charing Cross station (I know, it's not that hard, but I managed it!) I would have probably walked in with a few minutes to spare. As it was I got there right on time, only to discover that the Savoy isn't very well signposted itself and I spent more time trying to find my way around it than I did on the streets of London.
I eventually made it in and found Jo talking with the head of the currency team; Jo is in risk analysis. We headed up for dinner which was OK but nothing grand. I think they were trying to be Aussie or something because it was all prawns and beef and stuff, and all the same, which was a little difficult for the muslim guy next to me (mo') what with the pork and all.
Some guy Jo didn't know (should I say that? :) made a speach about how well the year went, and particularly congratulated the currency team (which is why I mentioned the chat above) and also tipped his hat to the understanding partners. It turns out that MB paid in the order of £200 a head for this event, but given how hard their employees work, I think they deserve it. I don't know if it was just 'sibling rivalry' but there was a quip as some point in the night about someone who'd defected to NAB for slightly more money and they were bored because they didn't ahve any work to do! (sounds familiar...)
Anyway, after dinner we headed down (oh, Jo and I were seated with the rest of Risk, and an obnoxious accountant who, by mere association, made me appear obnoxious and sexist!) to the dance floor and danced the night away.
Downstairs there were free vodka or rum(?) mixs in addition to the wine that had been available all night. All through dinner the wine glasses were being kept topped up, so by the time I started on the vodka I was about as pissed as I've been in some 10 years. By the time the night had ended and Jo and I were taxiing home I was far more drunk than I've been in 10 years!
Got home, collapsed, fell asleep, hopefully didn't make too much noise, and forgot to have any water. Woke up at 7, as per normal, but went back to sleep till 8 when my alarm was set for.
Got up, went through the motions and then determined that I was feeling very ill and not alittle drunk still. Oh well, I was already on my way to work, via the suit place, I might as well keep going.
All I can really remember about the tube trip to Leciester square was sitting down at the stop before picadilly (on the bakerloo line) thinking 'Can I make it one more stop?' Surely I could... and fortunately did, but I think the other people in the train were keeping well away :)
I got off, sat down for a while, and then returned the suit. By the time I got back to work I was feeling sober, but still hung over, and started at it. By mid afternoon I was feeling ok and discovered, to my surprise, that I'd actually acheived quite a bit of usefull work!
Then that night (Tuesday) after a huge monday, and little sleep, and being nuasiated in the morning, I went climbing with Tam and did very well. I even had my first lead fall ever on the last climb we did, which is important from a confidence point of view (not that I can't climb, but that I can fall and not die...) I only ended up with rope burn and a swollen, damaged shin with no bruise (come on! How could that possibly not result in a bruise! It's huge and hurts lots, surely that's enough grounds for a bruise. But no, just a swelling)
Well I think that's it, I've caught up with what I've been doing. Now just a few posts about books and so on on my other blog and I'll have caught up on everything!
I went through a lot of rigmarole to find a suit. I didn't really want to wear my double breasted one because I felt that it was a little 'old', though it turns out it would have been fine. So I borrowed one from one of the guys at work, and found the legs way to long (which is pretty surprising, I'm not exactly short myself). I ended up hiring the suit from a place my aunt (who is a costume designer) suggested near leciester square.
The shirt they offered me was brand new, in a plastic sleeve, so I had to rush home to iron it before heading to the Savoy. When I got home I discovered there was no ironing board (thjank goodness there was an iron!) so I had to iron the shirt on the floor, which was not very easy at all.
I ended up almost running to the tube, and if I hadn't gotten totally lost trying to find the Savoy from Charing Cross station (I know, it's not that hard, but I managed it!) I would have probably walked in with a few minutes to spare. As it was I got there right on time, only to discover that the Savoy isn't very well signposted itself and I spent more time trying to find my way around it than I did on the streets of London.
I eventually made it in and found Jo talking with the head of the currency team; Jo is in risk analysis. We headed up for dinner which was OK but nothing grand. I think they were trying to be Aussie or something because it was all prawns and beef and stuff, and all the same, which was a little difficult for the muslim guy next to me (mo') what with the pork and all.
Some guy Jo didn't know (should I say that? :) made a speach about how well the year went, and particularly congratulated the currency team (which is why I mentioned the chat above) and also tipped his hat to the understanding partners. It turns out that MB paid in the order of £200 a head for this event, but given how hard their employees work, I think they deserve it. I don't know if it was just 'sibling rivalry' but there was a quip as some point in the night about someone who'd defected to NAB for slightly more money and they were bored because they didn't ahve any work to do! (sounds familiar...)
Anyway, after dinner we headed down (oh, Jo and I were seated with the rest of Risk, and an obnoxious accountant who, by mere association, made me appear obnoxious and sexist!) to the dance floor and danced the night away.
Downstairs there were free vodka or rum(?) mixs in addition to the wine that had been available all night. All through dinner the wine glasses were being kept topped up, so by the time I started on the vodka I was about as pissed as I've been in some 10 years. By the time the night had ended and Jo and I were taxiing home I was far more drunk than I've been in 10 years!
Got home, collapsed, fell asleep, hopefully didn't make too much noise, and forgot to have any water. Woke up at 7, as per normal, but went back to sleep till 8 when my alarm was set for.
Got up, went through the motions and then determined that I was feeling very ill and not alittle drunk still. Oh well, I was already on my way to work, via the suit place, I might as well keep going.
All I can really remember about the tube trip to Leciester square was sitting down at the stop before picadilly (on the bakerloo line) thinking 'Can I make it one more stop?' Surely I could... and fortunately did, but I think the other people in the train were keeping well away :)
I got off, sat down for a while, and then returned the suit. By the time I got back to work I was feeling sober, but still hung over, and started at it. By mid afternoon I was feeling ok and discovered, to my surprise, that I'd actually acheived quite a bit of usefull work!
Then that night (Tuesday) after a huge monday, and little sleep, and being nuasiated in the morning, I went climbing with Tam and did very well. I even had my first lead fall ever on the last climb we did, which is important from a confidence point of view (not that I can't climb, but that I can fall and not die...) I only ended up with rope burn and a swollen, damaged shin with no bruise (come on! How could that possibly not result in a bruise! It's huge and hurts lots, surely that's enough grounds for a bruise. But no, just a swelling)
Well I think that's it, I've caught up with what I've been doing. Now just a few posts about books and so on on my other blog and I'll have caught up on everything!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home