15 Aug 2007

Last Installment of Portuben
Current mood: sad but excited

Wow a whole week since I last posted! And a very busy one indeed... I'll start where I left off I suppose. With a beach party.

We all hit work as usual at 8pm everyone was so looking forward to it that it took way more than 6 hours for it to be 2am! work was uneventful but a laugh. Everyone got very drunk by the end of that night then after cleanup at about 2:30am we all (all the workers in town) met at 3 monkeys bar and went to rush the gates. The plan being to just storm the place. We got down there and the entire venue was swarming with cops and as nobody really fancied taking one (a harsh beating) for the team we all tried to find other ways in. Loads of people decided to swim in but as I had found nearly €10 of change on the bar floor at cleanup I just paid. Inside there was the same token for beer system as at the pool party so I went and got some tokens. By now the party was really heated up and there were thousands of people on Patata Beach raving or sitting in groups like a mini Reading Festy I suppose.

I was at te Reggae Stage for most of the night but I went to the dance tent when I got a bit more drunk and found colleagues which was cool. My room mates also turned up. In truth EVERYONE was there. By about 6am the sun was up and a massive group of us where chilling on the sand. Davin from work gave me some JD too. We chilled for a while until it was made rather clear that we needed to vacate the premesis. We all ended up (somehow) at an apartment building affectionatly nicknamed 'spermbank' and were there for god knows how long. I just remember feeling as if I was being sunburned by the time I left. Testament to how late in the day it was.

Work that night was knackering. Person after person turning up and claiming that they'd only just woken up etc. We were also waking to the realisation that a colleague working for Joes had passed away the night before. OD. We were all really cut up about it and it was hard to come to terms with at first. Really hard to believe. Joes closed early that night which I thought was respectful

The next day I headed beachwards with a couple of housemates. On the way we met some flyerers who informed us of a ceremony taking place on the beach for John Fox. I attended that and it was again very respectful and a great thing to do for his memory. We stood in a corner and words were said and tears cried and flowers laid. We are all very sorry for his passing and hope he is in a better place. It's hard to put it any different really. He was a really nice bloke. Really outgoing, funny and a great sense of humour. What do you say when something that should never happen happens? I don't know and I don't think anyone does.

On Sunday I was heading to the beach again when I bumped into Brett and Brad and Regan. Regan had a big bucket full of bottles of vodka and bags of ice and invited me and Brad and Brett to his BBQ for his birthday. It didn't start 'til 3 so me and Brad and Brett wasted some hours then went along. It was a great day just mucking about in the apartment a good 50+ of us. Good music, food and booze. The same bucket later contained a large amount of potent squash which is always fun. Then I went home an hour before work to get a shower and discovered a roast awaiting because the girls had made me some. That was great, the girls were such good cooks. Then I was off to work.

Monday was another BBQ at Pippa and Annas villa. Another great day was had by all even though it was a bit windy and Pippa had a cold. The villa was about 1/2hr drive outside of lagos on a golf resort overlooking a golf course valley. It had about 4 levels in total with a pool, outdoor speakers, bbq, countless bedrooms and bathrooms, a terrace on which the food was served. Very nice.
That night was my last night and on arrival at the bar Denise broke out the wigs in celebration. Brad looked especially fetching in a long blonde number. It was also apron night for Cypress' birthday. Like toga night but with aprons and without togas. I had a pretty blue one. Lots of the night were a bit blurry but I remember doing the 9 deadly sins shots. That was great! I got pretty damn drunk from that.

Tuesday was my last day and I was due to depart with some of Hollys (works behind the bar) mates Steph and Cass. We were to meet at 1:30pm at the taxi rank but bumped into eachother at Whytes whilst I was getting my pay. I then went to get rising c*** t-shirts for us and nearly missed them at the taxi rank but we got to the station and onto the train after a long wait at the ticket office. The train ride was a laugh and the wait at the airport was far less boring than usual.

And now I'm back, and I'm going to pick up my results at 9am then I have a job interview at RBS at 11am. Back in the real world.