During the week leading up to Saturday night I’d told myself, as I often do, that I would not be drinking a lot when I headed out to Watford for my friends 21st. Lately when I’ve made this claim I’ve actually managed to not disappoint myself; however “not drinking a lot” and “not getting too drunk” are completely different statements. This weekend I was aiming to stay true to both; I stayed true to neither.
As usual I greatly underestimated how long it would take me to get ready. Being the clever sort that I am, I decided to give myself the added task of dying my hair. When the time rolled around for me to be leaving my house, I was in fact still in my underwear. Luckily, when it comes to arranging times to meet within my group of friends it’s more often than not assumed that everyone is going to be late, so any feelings of guilt pretty much ceased to be felt at all.
After opting to pay the extra for a cab than wait fifteen minutes for a bus, the friend I was travelling with and I finally arrived in Watford and met the others in a Wetherspoons. The night ahead was going to be a complete girlie night and so a considerable amount of dancing was to be expected. I was pleased to find that my new shoes were comfy enough to allow this.
After I’d managed to quickly paint my nails in the pub we headed on over to one of my favourite locations: Vodka Revs.
The first time I was introduced to this establishment of wonder was a couple of years ago on a student night. The bar considerately caters for the financially unstable students by offering a 2 for 1 deal on all drinks. Great! There’s nothing that pleases me more than a reduced fee on the ride to intoxication. We gazed over the drinks menu and decided to test the shots. You can buy a stick of six shots in all different flavours. We ordered this along with our double vodka and diet cokes. For some reason it had not occurred to us that the shots were also buy one get one free. Sitting on the bar facing us were 12 shot glasses filled with an assortment of brightly coloured liquids. “What happened next?” I hear you ask. You’re guess is as good as mine.
Back to the night in question and I decided to steer clear of the shots. Attending such places on a Saturday night after experiencing the prices of a student night is a little disheartening, but when you’re in high spirits and already tipsy money begins to mean less and less. The mandatory bathroom pictures took place in this bar in front of the biggest and most strategically placed mirror in existence. The people who decorated that place knew who their target audience were.
The next bar we ventured into was one I had yet to visit. The barmen revealed the volume of their egos by performing the generic tricks whilst preparing cocktails. In my mind I secretly longed for them to screw up and make a fool of themselves; alas, I was not granted this unkind pleasure. After a quick drink here and a tearful goodbye to one of the girls who was blasphemously leaving early as she had work the next day, we moved on to the final club.
I think no matter how many times I go to this club I will never be capable of navigating my way around it. The combination of being considerably drunk and generally lacking any skills when it comes to direction means I find it completely disorientating. I spent most of the night following other people around to avoid becoming stranded.
As it was my friends 21st we decided that we would tell the DJ to wish her a happy birthday and to request a song for her. At the time we were in the cheese room so we picked Thriller. Upon reflection I’ve realised the majority of the night was spent in the cheese room. There’s something about pre-millennia music that lifts everyone’s spirits. As soon as the first line of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” comes on every girl in the vicinity grabs an imaginary hairbrush and flocks to the dance floor to do their best Whitney impression.
At one point during the night as I was travelling from one room to another, something caught my eye. What first drew my attention in this general direction was an amazing smell. Turning my head, what came into view was a hotdog stand. My eyes grew wider as the man behind the counter passed over the meaty treat into the hands of an intoxicated individual. Resisting this torturous temptation, my gaze moved on to where I saw a couple of my friends. Next to the hotdog stand were a few computers...oh dear. I walked towards them to see Facebook open on the screen in front of them. What has the world come to when people feel the need to check a social networking site when they are out socialising IRL?
Without having realised, I was about to cross the line into an unacceptable level of intoxication. The dreaded time had come for me to make that shameful request for water. The bar I stood at occupied only one other person. The barman had disappeared out of sight and my need for a cool glass of innocent fluid was becoming unbearable. My impatience forced me to attempt communicating with the gentleman to my right to ask him to order it for me. I must have been successful as I was soon walking away with a full glass in my hand.
Along with my diminishing sobriety went my funds. After my efforts to dilute the alcohol in my veins I deemed it safe to purchase another real drink. However as I opened my purse it would seem I had forgotten to keep a track of how much money I was spending. Therefore when I tipped the remaining pennies I had onto the bar it was far from the amount I needed. So of course, out came the debit card. Luckily the damage was minimal as this turned out to be my last drink.
The final task of the night was getting a cab. The plan was for four of us to share the cab back, but on our way out of the club, and a detour to the kebab shop, our group was split in two. I received a call from the others who informed me that they were in a queue for a cab. Off we trotted in what we thought was the right direction. About ten minutes we began to question ourselves and after another phone call we were enlightened to the fact we’d been walking in completely the wrong direction. On went the lids of our kebabs to avoid losing any of our precious grub and we sped along the high street back the way we had come. Eventually we were reunited with the rest of our party and boarded the vehicle which would take us safely to our beds.
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