For starters I indulged in a four hour nap since it was raining and gloomy. I've just been an Energizer Bunny ever since I got here and once given the opportunity I couldn't resist the siren call of sleep; a recharging of my batteries if you will. But I set my alarm so that I could get up and go to dinner before our group went off for our last visit with Harry Potter.
As I was walking down the stairs, I stopped mid-step, stunned by the amount of finery I was seeing. The lobby of Gonville and Caius had been transformed into a wedding reception. There was a Caitlin sized standing bouquet of lush white flowers on the landing, and several guest were milling about the lobby wearing their best feathered hats and tuxedo tails. I felt so clumsy and awkward in my jeans and pigtails as I tried to make an escape to the JCR (common room) in the hopes that that too hadn't been overtaken.
My group of friends had all agreed to meet in the JCR so we could go out before the movie and most of us were there already. We all tried to look nonchalant as we peered out the windows looking at the passersby from the wedding. All the girls murmured their oohs and aahs as the bride walked by in a white sari. We hid out in the JCR until we figured it was safe to exit and not interrupt. But by the time we took off I was quite cranky, having devolved into a toddler, peckish after having slept through lunch.
We decided to split up since we figured there was no way one of the little restaurants around the theater would be able to handle seating for fifteen at a time. I went to a pub called Revolution with my friends Jordan and Michaela. We all got burgers, but they were oh so good. While we were in the pub we encountered not one, not two, but three bachelorette parties. If you're sensing a theme then welcome to the club because we were all pretty shocked by how much wedding fodder we were dealing with here.
In England they call bachelorette parties hen-dos and bachelor parties stag-dos. And these ladies were out to have a good time let me tell you. One group wore neon orange hats and had name tags on with their relation to the groom, presumably Bob. The bride-to-be wore a tag that said 'Bob's ball and chain' and her bridesmaids had on tags with 'Bob's former lover' (I'm hoping they were joking on that end because that would be one hell of an awkward wedding party); they even slapped a sticker on the waiter that said simply 'Bob'. Another party walked by with pink sashes and bright cosmopolitans. But the coup de grace was the party that was setting up as we were heading out. They began by setting a giant inflated penis in a place of special honor next to the bride. Then each drink was adorned with a phallic straw. As we were leaving they were blowing up balloons. Three guesses as to the shape. Dinner was amusing to say the least.
We had agreed to meet up with the rest of our group in front of the theater by 8:00 since the movie was at 8:30. It was starting to get chilly so we huddled together out of the way as our group began to re-form. As we were standing there waiting for the final members a bachelor party entered the pub nearby dressed as cowboys and Indians, complete with headdress, just as another bachelor party was stumbling out of the pub, one man dressed as a hot dog. One of the later party felt obliged to stop and talk to us and preceded to try to explain not only what his occupation was but why it was relevant to us Americans. He was holding his group up and every once in awhile one of them would scream out, "George!" or "They don't bloody care mate!" We were all just standing there trying not to laugh as George told us about the Murphy Bell of 1964, even stopping an old British man to confirm that such a thing did exist. He nodded emphatically and then toddled off. George continued to explain about stag-dos and it seems costumes or coordinated attire is even more of a big deal here than it is in the US. When asked which of the men was the groom, George calmly replied, the hot dog.
After George left us and we had regained our group, we headed into the theater. All of us were extremely excited to see Harry Potter in an honest to goodness British theater. We had assigned seats but were all relatively close together. Unlike any other movie I've ever seen before you could really feel the tension and excitement of the audience. Now, I won't go into the movie much since I don't know how many of you have seen it, but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed it and that it was a very well done ending to a series that has been near and dear to my heart since I was about eleven. I wept for about the last twenty minutes of the movie. It was so very good!
The movie let out at about 11:00pm and as we headed back our group splintered off to do various night time activities. Our little group of five walked back to Gonville and Caius but stopped at a liquor store so we could have a quiet night in at the JCR. I tried this beer called Hobgoblin. I really picked it up because the label was so cool and it claimed to be the unofficial beer of rock and roll (but aren't they all). My overall response was 'meh'. The bottle's coming home with me though! So we sat and talked and drank and laughed and nibbled on shortbread cookies late into the night. Time well spent, if you ask me.
In the morning, the breakfast table had pitchers filled with white flowers from the wedding.
No comments:
Post a Comment