Been working a lot in the last few days, had a good week. It's strange how satisfying some things can be - I was doing some cabling during the week, which involved some cables across the building that required some to go into the 'loft' to get to the other half of the building. I volunteered to go up and do it, which meant I was up there on my own clambering between the beams and fixing the cables. I am quite a fussy person for doing things 'properly' most of the time and even though it takes more time to do it that way, in this case causing me to be in a 'hot box' of a loft for even longer. It was so nice to lay them in properly and secure them in a decent fashion.
Having to dodge rentokill boxes complete with little blue pellets of death means I'm having to wash my hands and arms so many times each day to ensure I dont get sick from the dust, dirt, or poison that is in the loft. Couple this with some gymnastics London2012 would've been proud of and I'm feeling pretty fit n healthy atm esp with me eating better.
I've decided to be a lot more professional when abroad and to go out less, drink less and to try and be better at my job. It's working out well so far and think my boss (here) is a little impressed at my new attitude and renewed vigor.
Saying that, we were invited out by some of the girls in the mission on Saturday night and so we met them at a bar quite a way out of town and very much in the 'burbs'. We rocked up and got charged a few £ to get in, which seemed weird but then the girl on the door mentioned something about the singer of the nights entertainment was on some 'idol' show at some point and since the game was almost over they deemed we were there for the band.
We had some fun with the girls as they were intently watching 'the game' which involved a local team who were losing right up until we arrived but had just taken the lead. I found out they were all very loyal and that I was definintely joining them in support! (or else)
I then found out that they have Nandos here - and better than that, its FROM here... and better than that... they have BOTH
drive thru and delivery!= bink.
At which point the food they'd ordered arrived and I fell in love with a chef's platter thingy that had: wings, samosa's, ribs, dip, kebabs and some more meaty treats. So much so I instantly ordered another for the table/ group and then perused the menu for my own dinner. I've been good all week so figured I was going for some Burger/ Steak + chips combo. Got a draft beer and the night is on its way!!!!
Two minutes later and someone has ordered 6x brown shots - fmfl. (I'm not good with shots in general, and I'm what you would call a 'puker' so this doesn't bode well)
We all gambe, terrivaseks, cheers, salute, chink our glasses and down the caramel vodka shots.... I guess I'll be getting hammerred tonight then.
So I'm getting to know everyone and the girls seem much more relaxed and chatty than they've been all week in the office. Only our contact (who seems to be a bit of a dogsbody-motherofall job wise) is the same in the office, she's a good laugh. She's invited her housemate who we met earlier in the day at work... who was very quiet and demure at the time but is now well voiced and wide awake (turns out she was recovering in the morning and not quiet at all) - she's clearly a maneater of some kind and is on a mission to get drunk tonight which I'm sure will be fun for all. The game finishes and our team wins so the whole bar is now in better spirits and the band kick off with the roof taking off.
Not long later we've found ourselves 3 beers down, 3 shots down and someone orders multiple bottles of red wine - now I want to pretend like I'm a true hero and can drink anything and everything and survive and be up the next day etc...... But it's just not true. I know if I have a single glass of this wine I will be in so many kinds of pain tomorrow that I'm able to muster up the strength to refuse and just get another beer. The others were not so forthinking.
Then our contact orders another round of shots and I'm agreeing to do my last one with the girl next to me, who has really livened up since the first shot. Sat opposite us is a rather small middle aged woman who has been wound up so tight at work all week we wondered if she would explode.... she refused a shot, but I got her one anyways.... and now - she's shouting for the Tequila - woops!
A little later and we've destroyed the pizza's, platters and now our food has arrived - another super plate and I've got a pretty massive looking burger avec frites. The burger gets demolished but the platter is barely touched. Eyes way too big for my stomach this time. I nibbled at it, so did the rest but by now we've got our drinking heads on and we're definitely not going to finish it so I ask 'Felix' our waiter to take it away... he looks at me remembering he suggested I didn't order it... and lolz.
The rest of the night goes pretty well with the band kicking up a storm and we all smash the dancefloor, getting all sorts of moves out! the tables are all picnic ones, inside and out... and it takes very little time for all the girls in the bar to start dancing on them. Nothing wrong with that!
I stopped drinking after the 4th or 5th beer purely because I knew the night was going to get messy for me otherwise... however everyone else just motored on!
A little while later and the 'ex' of one of the girls turns up, invited apparently, and proceeds to try and be 'the big man' which just seemed both awkward and weird. After a couple more drinks they're talking and the inevitable ex on ex argument explodes all over the place, she's launching at him and shouting and throwing her arms around. Almost felt sorry for the douchebag - almost.
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Just had an epic panic where the internet voucher expired and facebook decided to do a spazz and lock this window, so I couldn't do anything and thought I'd lost all the above. I felt so meh about it but was a little pissed I'd managed to lose all this. Then had a brainwave and tried the old cntrl alt delete to get task manager hoping I could do something from there... but I know if you 'end task' that it closes all iexplorer windows.
I managed to find the specific 'spazz' window in the actual processes themselves and target that for ending.. and abbbracadabbra we have it all back! boom!
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Then the majority of the party left and I decided to stay with our contact and her roommate for a little while to have a laugh and some more dancing escapades. We ended up going a little while later and went to a 'hogshead' bar which I assume is something to do with the UK chain. We ordered some drinks and I had a water as I was the most sober so I drove. They got a few sips into their drinks and their next round of shots arrived... but the next thing I know we're leaving and they've given their drinks to some hot girl nearby. I take them to the McDonalds drive through we're nearby and then proceed to realise that its a new one and you can tell - it took over an hour to clear the 15 cars that were in front of us and for us to get our foods - WTF!
We then go back to theirs as its super close and although I have work in the morning I'm going to be better if I get sleep now and get up early.
Get to theirs, smash the McD's down and crash on one of the beds, I think the girls shared the other and bingo I'm being dropped off at my hotel for 0730 and breakfast!
Pretty sweet night out.
Work went much quicker and easier than expected, but that's all helped by my slightly more sensible drinking the night before. We get a bunch of stuff done but forget there is a CCTV camera in the basement and the music we have playing involved some dancing while at work. I'm sure the security manager will enjoy the coverage.
We were invited to a BBQ in the afternoon so go straight through without lunch, then get to the BBQ and its awesome. They take their meat quite seriously here and its a big deal so we're sat by the pool, in the shade of a gigantic palm tree having some wine and awaiting the food. Some good company, conversation, food and a fantastic afternoon was had by all.
I ended up staying with the hostess and a 'Scottish office' guy who is actually Maltese (a few jokes were had) and we proceed to get rather drunk on the rest of the white wine.
It's all good though because today we've got the day off and I knew that then..
We've been kicked out of the office today due to a VIP visit that they want us out of the way for, had an awesome lie in today and then spent the next couple of hours perusing fb, blonde, hotmail etc... watching a little 'bond' and reminding myself how smooth Brosnan was.
Now finished this ramble and I'm chilling in the hotel bar near the pool with some sun and a big blue sky!
Really glad for Deadman, he's a great poker player and well deserves the win! I was there in Stoke for another of his final tables this year.. and I remember one particular hand where it was dinner break and he'd just hero'd off over half of his stack vs the Mad Turk and he was so down. He had dinner with Shola and during that time he completely recomposed himself, got his head sorted when others might have blown up and came back afterwards with an impressive performance! Unfortunately I couldn't stay the entire time as I had to get back for work but was so gutted when he busted and I got the news from S by text.
So I just wanted to say "well done mate, you absolutely deserve it. Best of luck for the rest of the year and hopefully I'll see you soon!"Time for a beer me thinks.
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