Christmas party

Well well, I am still eagerly awaiting experiencing a proper english x-mas party. Yesterday's party was nice, but very demure. Noone got very drunk or embarassed themselves. One guy did manage to spil beer over my Mulberry bag and new coat but he was clumsy rather than drunk. It was all lovely, and we were given a small bottle of Moet on the way out but a proper english office x-mas party? Nope. Maybe next year?

Christmas - part 2

It is not yet sinterklaas. It is not yet thanksgiving. I have accepted the presence of christmas stuff in the shops (and secretely was happy about it as I needed chrissy food for my folks). But christmas commercials on tele is just not on. I don't need to wear a coat yet. My street is still covered in yellow leaves. Let it be autumn first. And then worry about christmas. Silly poms.

Christmas

Christmas doesn't really do it for me. Too much food, too much tv, too much of much. And as my work doesn't really permit long holidays outside July/August or the Christmas period, I always escape the European winter for a few weeks in that period. Which means I have had many a great Thai or Australian christmas in recent years. Christmasses that involved nothing more than a curry in a plastic chair at the beach restaurant on Koh Samet or a picknick on Coogee Beach (with the exception of x-mas '06 that I spent with my mate Emily and about 40 of her relo's).

What I love however, is the whole x-mas build up. And London is the best place for this I think. That said, they do start a bit early. Where the americans wait for Halloween and Thanksgiving to be over, and the dutch don't really start after Sinterklaas, the poms start their x-mas season in October. At restaurants you will see the christmas dinners advertised, the supermarkets already stock christmas chocolate and the many card shops have christmas cards on sale already. When I passed Trafalgar Square on Thursday, the carols were being advertised, two months in advance. And I must confess, I slowly start getting into the mood. So far I have only looked at places to listen to the carols, but Handel's Messiah in Royal Albert Hall has been booked. And I have to admit, shamefully, that I also bought my christmas cards last week. But that is it for now. It is still 17 degrees and sunny, so no more chrissy until the days go shorter and the weather gets gloomier.

Christmas party

Yesterday I received my first Christmas party invite. Or rather, christmas lunch that will go on for a bit. I have had chrissy parties before of course, but not in England. And they are (in)famous in England. From my understanding, everone gets fuelled with enough booze to start their own Wetherspoons. If held in or near the office, you should have your bum photocopied. At least one person pukes in a plant, en someone will tell the boss what the team really thinks of him (my boss is safe from that I think, he's a great guy). A (dutch) friend of mine even managed to fall asleep in the loo on her first christmas party here and woke up in a locked and empty bar. Thank god for fire extinguishers and large windows (minor detail is she left her purse behind but she picked it up a few days later and noone ever suspected anything). Ours is on the 18th of December, so we can recover in the boss' time (Friday) as well as our own (Saturday and possibly Sunday). It will be a theme party. Belly dancing may be on the cards, which would be amazing. I have several colleagues whom I'd love to see making an arse of themselves belly dancing. Quite a few sleeps still, but exitement has kicked in already. Watch this space!

ps: anyone who hasn't heard of the british christmas parties: get a copy of the christmas special dvd of The Office - bloody brillant