Fuddland

Bit of a treat this weekend in the form of the worst-kept-secret-ever surprise leaving do, held by a group of my friends in honour of my impending departure for Chinese shores a week on Thursday [eek, is it that soon?]. My keen analytical mind figured out something was afoot when I was asked what dates I was free over the next few weeks “for no particular reason”, as well as me telling everyone that if I didn’t have a surprise party I’d be most upset, but nevertheless it was still very nice to see a large number of my close friends and be treated to drinks and a slap-up meal [at a Chinese restaurant in London’s Chinatown, natch].

There were still a couple of nice extra surprises — an old friend whom I’ve not seen in a good couple of years [but who, as I learnt, reads this site on an almost daily basis — hello Jon!], and the most surprising aspect of all: me managing to hold down my food as I was bought many a nasty drink, the culmination of which was some mysterious clear shot at the restaurant, described as “Chinese tequila”, that smelt like fish and took all the will in the world to bring the glass anywhere near my lips, let alone drink its contents. But down it I did, and I got a lovely pot of jasmine tea for my troubles from the sympathetic waitress [although this may have been insurance against having to clean up any mess I looked as though I was about to make all over the table before the colour of my face returned from off-green to its usual shade].

Other surprises during the evening:

• My friend finding £100 sticking out of a cash machine with no-one in the immediate vicinity [she says]

• Actually managing [eventually] to flag down a taxi on Oxford Street at one in the morning, and having an entertaining and intelligent conversation with the driver [at least, I think we did, I can’t actually recall what was said, except for some stuff about his hat not being anything to do with where he was originally from]

• I can dance around disturbingly competently in knee-length boots with four-inch heels

I do love my friends, and I think we’ll leave it at that.

The following is an entry which follows on from the above:

1. Sent off [redux] [Fuddland]. Excerpt: Although in general I'd really like it if all of my friends lived in one huge mansion and I could see them all at once all the time, there are benefits to having them scattered about the place--one of which...

#1

Clair | 2006 / 02 / 06 – 16:32

Yikes, that is soon. Feeling prepared?

#2

Jon | 2006 / 02 / 06 – 16:37

Hello David! I can still smell the fishy tequila today - hideous stuff. Why did you mention the boots!!!!

Fu (which, through my brief search on Google, means ‘good luck’ in Chinese).

#3

David | 2006 / 02 / 06 – 17:16

Re #1: Not really! Still, in at the deep end eh?

Re #2: Damn, now you know more Chinese than me. ;) And don’t worry, I only said it was me in the boots, I didn’t mention anything about the pink stilettos you were wearing.

Ooops! :P

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