bonfire night

so wednesday night around 6 pm, someone on the company entertainment committee went around and put packs of sparklers (fireworks!) on everyone's desk with a note that said thursday was bonfire night! (the note also asked that we please don't light the sparklers in the office).

wtf is bonfire night, you ask? i had to wikipedia it:

Bonfire night marks the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the Houses of Parliament

those darn Catholics. hey, wait a second...I'm one of them!

anyway. in addition to it being bonfire night, it was also two of our designers' last day in the office AND someone's birthday, so a massive happy hour was planned at our local office pub - the three kings. i made my way up to the bar and discovered a tab was open. mega score! since i wanted to be out for the long haul, i ordered a "light" beer - stella artois. people here consider this a wife beater beer, so i guess it's like the Beast or something. don't know, don't care, i like it, i'm drinking it.

three kings was beyond hot inside, so we ended up drinking our pints outdoors, because in london, it's perfectly cool to wander around with open containers. a few rounds later, the tab had closed and people were getting antsy so everyone left and went to dust, a club/bar nearby. we went with my co-worker/pal and her boyfriend to smith's first though, so that he could collect a few of his friends. while we were there i tried my first cider - magner's! mmmm.

the friends were a bit...drunk...and amorous...so us girls went out ahead of the goofy guys and we made our way to dust. dust was PACKED, and our crew of co-workers took up most of the back half of the bar. for some reason i decided to switch to G&T but then, upon looking around, i noticed everyone had switched to liquor so we were clearly in for a long night.

it was really fun to socialize with everyone outside the office - good to see that cool people seem to be a global standard in this company! :-) after a few hours(?) of chatting, American 80's music began piping through the speakers and the 15 or so of us that remained ended up cutting a rug. what was really great was the blockade we formed...everyone was looking out for each other, making sure no one ended up with awkward creepy dudes sneaking up from behind. good, good times.

at midnight i realized that it was indeed a school night, and so Christine and I decided to jet. however i was STARVING (no time for dinner) and not sure where what kind of food was around...so i asked the kind policeman outside the club where i could get a bite. luckily a restaurant was right around the corner! gotta love this city.

an order of cheese fries and a cheeseburger later, we were ready to go home, which thankfully was only a few blocks away. about three blocks from the flat we discovered a shopping cart (trolley if you're British)!!! naturally i ordered Christine to hop in so i could push her around.

this morning came way too darn fast, and we were a bit slow getting ready for work. i finally staggered out the door at 9:15 or so and there, in the alley, was the shopping cart. right where i left it. :-)