Usually I do not make much of an effort for the Christmas party arranged by Emily. A Santa hat is as far as I go! Even that is more than the majority of my friends. This year, I thought I would go the extra mile and actually buy my own outfit. Unfortunately I would later discover that I was one of only only four to dress up!
It seemed fitting that George Michael was only released from hospital yesterday and made the briefest of press conferences this afternoon, which I caught live on Sky News HD, as I was at my in-laws. I will come back to that later (well you should be able to make the festive link yourselves to be honest!) First I need to get to Reading dressed as the original green Santa. I knew it was going to be embarrassing journey on public transport, but thankfully my wife dropped me off close to the station. I had to walk through the new Curve bus station, by my ticket from the machine and then head to platform two. The same platform from which I catch my train to work each weekday. I had a good ten minute wait, during which many people, including employees of First Great Western stared and smirked at me in my bright green velvet trousers. Thankfully this was the non-stop Oxford service so I had only fifteen minutes to endure on the locomotive before heading into the streets of Reading. I knew in the town the atmosphere would very different, with many more people out for the Christmas weekend. After-all for many this would have been the final working day (or half day if you were lucky) of the year. I made my way to Sahara to find all of my friends drinking. I knew Pav would not be dressing up, but I was extremely disappointed to find only Charlie, Emily and Sarah dressed up. Poor show guys! Although even the consolation of Christmas jumpers from Ben, Foxy and Pav were not enough to bring them into my good books!
I was the last arrive, so it was just time for a quick drink before we headed to Thai9.
After our buffet meal we headed upstairs to the karaoke room. Below is the set list to the best of my knowledge with the relevant main performer and backing singers in brackets. Highlights include Paul (AKA The Prof) with a super solo performance of My Humps. I wish someone had recorded his performance on video, it was perfect fodder for YouTube. Unfortunately I was sitting behind him, and did not take any photographs of this show stopping performance! Also of worthy note, Emily with her performance of Milkshake by Kelis!
Went it came to my turn late into the night, I did consider a number from MJ but instead one of my favourite 80s bands was selected. I am not sure if this was due to prompting from Pav beforehand or if someone had just been a regular reader of my blog. However the lyrics on the karaoke machine were incorrect! It was as if someone had only one chance to listen to the song and guess some of the lyrics they did not quite hear correctly. Poor show, but I decided to play along, more for the benefit of my duet partner Ben! I did not want to appear as a know-it-all fan in-front of my friends!
We had been provided with a bill at 11pm, so our time was nearly up. I believe we would be kicked out at 11:30pm. We had to end on a Christmas song and we decided upon Last Christmas. For some reason, I spent the majority of the time with my hands in a warm embrace around the Prof’s chest! The bromance continues. All the photos have been uploaded to my first official FlickR set since August. Merry Christmas Everyone!