1299: It’s Four O’Clock in the Morning

Good morning! I’ve just got in. (Well, I got in about half an hour ago, but whatever.)

I’ve been “out” this evening. I recall writing a post a while back about how I don’t really “go out” any more in the way I used to — that’s “go out” in the sense of “going somewhere to imbibe a lot of alcoholic beverages then stumble somewhere you probably won’t remember in the morning.” And yet this evening I found myself doing almost exactly that. (The only part lacking was the “lot of alcoholic beverages”, since I was driving.)

It was my friend James’ stag night this evening, you see — an event which is continuing over the weekend. This evening was intended to be a fairly conventional night out — a nice meal, then maybe a couple of drinks somewhere, then back home in preparation for other stuff tomorrow. Since we’re all considerably older than we used to be, we weren’t particularly intending on doing anything “big” or time-consuming like clubbing, but somehow here I am at nearly 4am having just rolled in from what ended up being a rather long night.

The specifics? Not a chance. What happens on the stag night stays on the stag night and all that.

Suffice to say, though, I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying myself, and it was largely down to two things: the company, who were pleasingly laid back for the whole evening, and the venues, which, while hastily chosen in all cases apart from the restaurant we’d booked, turned out to be entertaining, pleasant places to hang out. And by that — yes, I’m aware how old I sound when I say this — I mean they were places where you could actually hold a conversation with the people you were with, rather than having to bellow small talk into each other’s ears — something which I always find to be embarrassing and surprisingly exhausting.

On the whole, I think James had an eminently suitable start to his stag night, weekend, whatever you want to call it. The evening took a few twists and turns I don’t think any of us were expecting when we started, and I think everyone had a good time. I also think most people involved were surprised that we all still had what turned out to be a lengthy night out in us — it’s nice to know that we’re perhaps not as decrepit as we might have perhaps thought we were.

I do quite urgently need to sleep now, though, despite the amount of Coke I’ve imbibed over the course of the evening. I can have a lie-in tomorrow morning, at least, then it’s Doing Stuff that is Probably a Little More Sedate Than This Evening tomorrow afternoon and evening. For now, adieu.