The Dichotomous Bouncer

(Written the 9th, concerning the 8th...ya know how I do)

It was a very mellow day.

Des, Alec, and I went to brunch at a bowling alley/restaurant. The food was quite tasty and the employees were quite sassy (in a good way). When we were done eating a  fellow came and cleared out dishes. He also started collecting the catsup so I decided to give him a hand and slide the hot sauce closer to him.

His response (remember, this is with a british accent), "Oh, so this is you helping me, is it? Sliding the sauce from there to here. Yeah, big help... I've got an afternoon rush coming in, THAT would be the time to actually help me."

Just written out in blog form that sounds horribly rude, but his inflection and attitude were actually really funny and I could tell he was joking (albeit in a dry, poker-faced way).

After that we hung out in the flat a while. Caught some rugby on TV.

That evening we went to a birthday party for an American friend of Des's. I thought it might be weird to go but Des and her friend both insisted I come along. "Well, I won't insult you by saying no...."

The party was in the basement of a downtown London pub. At the front door there was a man checking that everyone entering was of the drinking age (which is 18 here), but his approach was most unique. He'd point at people as they came in and make one of two proclamations: "18, in you go!" or "16, let's have your ID!"

Apparently, 18 and 16 are the only possible ages. While I was proclaimed to 18, the 30 year-old birthday girl was selected out for further screening. In his defense, she did have a very young-looking face.

The party went on for quite a while. There were exceptionally delicious tater tots (which apparently are rare in this country to begin with), crispy chicken wings, and cheese-stuffed burgers.

With my first bite of said burger an explosion of cheese erupted into my face and up my sleeve (like, to the shoulder)! They jam-packed that thing!

The people there provided very interesting conversation (a Russian-born American lawyer turned British graphic designer, and an aspiring British novelist, to name only two).

All in all, a lovely time!