16 days and the waiting's over
Well, it's been a good but fairly uneventful month, I have survived my first month at SMA, started playing for a new footie team, watched the mighty Pool play awfully at the HK Stadium, broken into a mates flat, had a few trips to the beach, taken a weekend in the country , celebrated the mighty mighty England regain a bit of form and been to countless leaving dos, birthday bashes and one rather entertaining if not slightly wrong stag do.
Not wanting to jinx it and touching wood as I type, the new job's going really well. I don't think the company, my colleagues, our products or the company ethos is really any different to anywhere else, its just that English is the first language in the office! That might sound terrible considering I live in China and have done for over two years but it really is amazing how good it is for people to laugh (admittedly not very often) when you make a dry remark as opposed to looking at you blankly, and for senior people in the office making self depreciating jokes rather than taking it all very very seriously! What can I say, little things please....
The stag do was wrong on many many levels but mainly because I was sober. It was the night after the mighty might England crushed the hapless Welsh by a massive 62 points to 5 (in case anyone missed it) and I have to admit I was hung-over, very very hung-over. The fact the stag do was on a Sunday didn't help and given I'm still making a vague attempt at professionalism at work (though admittedly my own take on it) I really didn't fancy getting rolling drunk.
It kicked off at 12:30 at a curry house in Wanchai and all seemed fine until the stag emerged from the bathroom in a cape, sombrero, cycling shorts, black fishnet tank top, posing pouch and chains, all of which nicely complemented the Hawaiian shirts and garlands everyone else was wearing! It didn't take long for the inflatable doll to be cuffed to his wrist and after being entertained by a “dancer”, a mad dash by the stag to buy a newspaper, visit a local bar and do some star jumps (still with inflatable doll et al) it was almost 3:30pm, i.e. time to go clubbing!?!?
Wanchai is a funny place so it shouldn't have surprised me to find Laguna banging out dance tunes on a Sunday afternoon, while hundreds of young Philippinos (on their one day off a week) went a little mad. Needless to say some of our gang joined in and I think the rest can and should be left to the imagination. Being sober made a rather surreal experience for me, I know it’s an old analogy but it really was like watching a car wreck in slow motion!
And as I tend to say, that's about me..... I'll be back in the motherland in a couple of weeks but as I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm only in London for one drinking night, the rest of my week being devoted to mum (aren't I a good son), Lou's wedding and getting a as much time with Han as possible, so....
7pm, Friday 24th August at The Fire Station at Waterloo,
I know it isn't the best pub in the world but I'm going on location... rational is anyone in Greater London can get there on mainline trains, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern or even via Waterloo East so just get yourself there if you're in the area. I know I’ve been away a while but it would be great to see all of you.
Until then,
JP.
p.s. Just to reiterate, The Fire Station, Waterloo, London, 24th August 2007 at 7pm
Jonathan
SMA office
North Point
HK SAR
Not wanting to jinx it and touching wood as I type, the new job's going really well. I don't think the company, my colleagues, our products or the company ethos is really any different to anywhere else, its just that English is the first language in the office! That might sound terrible considering I live in China and have done for over two years but it really is amazing how good it is for people to laugh (admittedly not very often) when you make a dry remark as opposed to looking at you blankly, and for senior people in the office making self depreciating jokes rather than taking it all very very seriously! What can I say, little things please....
The stag do was wrong on many many levels but mainly because I was sober. It was the night after the mighty might England crushed the hapless Welsh by a massive 62 points to 5 (in case anyone missed it) and I have to admit I was hung-over, very very hung-over. The fact the stag do was on a Sunday didn't help and given I'm still making a vague attempt at professionalism at work (though admittedly my own take on it) I really didn't fancy getting rolling drunk.
It kicked off at 12:30 at a curry house in Wanchai and all seemed fine until the stag emerged from the bathroom in a cape, sombrero, cycling shorts, black fishnet tank top, posing pouch and chains, all of which nicely complemented the Hawaiian shirts and garlands everyone else was wearing! It didn't take long for the inflatable doll to be cuffed to his wrist and after being entertained by a “dancer”, a mad dash by the stag to buy a newspaper, visit a local bar and do some star jumps (still with inflatable doll et al) it was almost 3:30pm, i.e. time to go clubbing!?!?
Wanchai is a funny place so it shouldn't have surprised me to find Laguna banging out dance tunes on a Sunday afternoon, while hundreds of young Philippinos (on their one day off a week) went a little mad. Needless to say some of our gang joined in and I think the rest can and should be left to the imagination. Being sober made a rather surreal experience for me, I know it’s an old analogy but it really was like watching a car wreck in slow motion!
And as I tend to say, that's about me..... I'll be back in the motherland in a couple of weeks but as I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm only in London for one drinking night, the rest of my week being devoted to mum (aren't I a good son), Lou's wedding and getting a as much time with Han as possible, so....
7pm, Friday 24th August at The Fire Station at Waterloo,
I know it isn't the best pub in the world but I'm going on location... rational is anyone in Greater London can get there on mainline trains, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern or even via Waterloo East so just get yourself there if you're in the area. I know I’ve been away a while but it would be great to see all of you.
Until then,
JP.
p.s. Just to reiterate, The Fire Station, Waterloo, London, 24th August 2007 at 7pm
Jonathan
SMA office
North Point
HK SAR
posted by JP at 1:30 pm
