Holiday Partying, UK style

So I know you all remember the post wherein I confess my anxiety for the Christmas parties here.  To recap, I was concerned about everybody getting drunk and being ridiculous, and as a follow on to that worry, I was concerned about how many drinks it would take for me to make a complete ass of myself.

It is, then, with great pleasure and indeed some pride that I tell you today that the parties were just fine.

My Wednesday night party did involve some VERY drunk people, but they were friendly and nobody was too inappropriate and the only problem was that the party was in a nightclub and it was so loud that my voice was husky and sore on Thursday.  (Thanks for asking, yes I did have two phone calls with clients.)

But the Friday night party was actually very fun, and also very funny (likely those two are related).  I had a hell of a time getting there.  The Notting Hill Gate tube station was evacuated (fire, I later learned) right when I got to the platform, and so I had to hike out of it in a huge herd of people and I sort of talked myself into it being a big deal and my heart started pounding because how was I getting out of there, and then all of a sudden, I decided that if it was my time, that was it and I was okay with it, and then I calmed down.  It appears I am ever so slightly claustrophobic.

Anyway, I got on a bus and then eventually back onto the tube and was only an hour late to the party.  Not that it mattered, but I barely arrived in time for dinner and it would've been bad to miss that given that I knew I'd be drinking.  I sat by a barrister who is one of those people who is so smart that he can speak knowledgeably about everything (politics, sports (not that I had any idea if he knew what he was talking about there), cooking, New York, and of course a niggling little point of contracts law) so dinner was interesting and fun.

The entertainment began during dinner, with a magician and a contortionist.  Not at the same time.  I found both of these things very random, but most people seemed to enjoy them.  (A fair amount of rude comments during the contortionist, though.)

Anyway, after dinner was when the party really began, you know.  The rockaoke began.  Rockaoke, for those uninitiated like myself, is like karaoke, except that there's an actual band.  (I feel somewhat badly for the musicians in the band, and hope they were well paid.)  I looked at the list of songs, you know, flirted with the idea of possibly going on the stage but luckily, nothing looked so fun to sing and I managed to stay off the stage (though not off the dance floor).

I took some videos but I really don't think I should post them.  I played them for Eli and I don't think he was nearly as entertained as I was, anyway.  Don't worry.

I did some drinking and some dancing and when the party was busted up at midnight, I was sad.  But, I managed to get six hours of sleep before my children woke me up, so it was clearly for the best.  Also, I didn't really embarrass myself (though one woman said to me today, "I saw you dancing to Beyonce."  And I said, "yeah, I really like that song" because tell me what else was there to say??).

My honest assessment:  It was more fun than holiday parties in the US.  And that's it, on that topic, until next year, amigos.