blowing soap bubbles on the night train
yesterday i had to attend a wedding of 2 of my friends in london. and given the fact that i had to commute up and back to london in a single day it was gonna be a tough day. and i had to plan it out.
so, after getting the 7.30am train (yawn+++) i found that i was occupying the same carriage as 20 Swindon Town FC supporters on their way to see their team play at Milwall.
great. they're gonna fuking lynch me.
now i'm sure this is a bio-female fear as well as a trans one, but getting two dozen beer drinking guys singing loudly, swearing and being, well, bloke-ish in a confined place (like a train carriage) can be very intimidating.
i got the impression even the male train conductor was intimidated.
i just pretended to sleep. it always works and it worked here. pretend to be dozing and people tend to leave you alone.
had to charge my oyster card and then started tube line hopping to get to Angel.
now, i haven't been in the Angel tube station (or Islington at all for that matter) since my Community placement in the spring of 2005. and it was nice to walk down the main street in Islington, window shop in all the stores, have a starbucks (i support them, i know, bad me) and just chill.
i found the town hall and met the groom and a few of the ushers all having cups of tea out of styrofoam cups.
nursing hangovers?
i don't think so but i can't be sure.
family arrived, followed by the bride who looked gorgeous and we proceeded into the hall to have what was maybe a 20 minute ceremony. in the end the photos on the steps of the hall took longer than the actual service.
we then all decamped to a pub and afterwards the reception venue which was a fantastic pub that we had hired out for the entire day.
Food wise i passed on a starter, for 2 reasons: 1. I don't do starters and 2. i'm not too fond of spinach. but the chicken was lovely as a main course and the lemon tarte was perfect.
speeches were made, including one emotionally cinematic one by the bride's father and another by the groom's best friend.
we then decamped to the bar/dancefloor area and i spent the night chatting and helping friends of the newlyweds entertain the bride's half-sister who was 12, hyperactive and bored out of her head after the first 4 hours. Bubble-fights became the order of the evening.
then we had cake, which was ok. i preferred the plain sponge to the chocolate bit, and dancing that had the old english wedding favorites started from the word GO but had me two-stepping with some of the other girls in no time.
finally i had to bid goodbye to everyone at 8.45 to catch the 10pm train.
getting on the train i ran into a lot of Swindon supporters going the other way, they were even more drunk than they were on the way too the game, and got home by maybe 11.40pm.
i got to sleep at one in the morning.
18 hour day, hey i can do that again.
which is why i've spent the afternoon doing not a lot after working a half early shift today.
yay for sleep and friends with great musical tastes and cake.
so, after getting the 7.30am train (yawn+++) i found that i was occupying the same carriage as 20 Swindon Town FC supporters on their way to see their team play at Milwall.
great. they're gonna fuking lynch me.
now i'm sure this is a bio-female fear as well as a trans one, but getting two dozen beer drinking guys singing loudly, swearing and being, well, bloke-ish in a confined place (like a train carriage) can be very intimidating.
i got the impression even the male train conductor was intimidated.
i just pretended to sleep. it always works and it worked here. pretend to be dozing and people tend to leave you alone.
had to charge my oyster card and then started tube line hopping to get to Angel.
now, i haven't been in the Angel tube station (or Islington at all for that matter) since my Community placement in the spring of 2005. and it was nice to walk down the main street in Islington, window shop in all the stores, have a starbucks (i support them, i know, bad me) and just chill.
i found the town hall and met the groom and a few of the ushers all having cups of tea out of styrofoam cups.
nursing hangovers?
i don't think so but i can't be sure.
family arrived, followed by the bride who looked gorgeous and we proceeded into the hall to have what was maybe a 20 minute ceremony. in the end the photos on the steps of the hall took longer than the actual service.
we then all decamped to a pub and afterwards the reception venue which was a fantastic pub that we had hired out for the entire day.
Food wise i passed on a starter, for 2 reasons: 1. I don't do starters and 2. i'm not too fond of spinach. but the chicken was lovely as a main course and the lemon tarte was perfect.
speeches were made, including one emotionally cinematic one by the bride's father and another by the groom's best friend.
we then decamped to the bar/dancefloor area and i spent the night chatting and helping friends of the newlyweds entertain the bride's half-sister who was 12, hyperactive and bored out of her head after the first 4 hours. Bubble-fights became the order of the evening.
then we had cake, which was ok. i preferred the plain sponge to the chocolate bit, and dancing that had the old english wedding favorites started from the word GO but had me two-stepping with some of the other girls in no time.
finally i had to bid goodbye to everyone at 8.45 to catch the 10pm train.
getting on the train i ran into a lot of Swindon supporters going the other way, they were even more drunk than they were on the way too the game, and got home by maybe 11.40pm.
i got to sleep at one in the morning.
18 hour day, hey i can do that again.
which is why i've spent the afternoon doing not a lot after working a half early shift today.
yay for sleep and friends with great musical tastes and cake.