three-oh

i officially said goodbye to my twenties yesterday. after prepping with a jolly bash with happy-d in vancouver, i was gearing up for a grand ole time in london... only to be knocked out by the flu! after three days in bed / on the couch, i put on my glad-rags, packed my handbag with strepsils and paracetomol (tylenol), and headed for the electric birdcage. the food (asian “tapas” / dim sum) was surprisingly delish (and very reasonably priced for london), the glamorous cocktails equally delish (and not-so reasonably priced even for london) and the company properly merry (even S came with bump and bump – twins due in 2 months!), so all-in-all was a good night, despite fighting the flu and trying to talk over the music – a horrific fade-in / fade-out shuffle on itunes of top 40 and best-of-the-90’s (independent woman? really??)

OH, and i have to tell this anecdote from when i made the reservation for the party. i walked over to the premises on my lunch break a few weeks ago and the following ensued:

me: hi, i’d like to make a reservation for the 28th of march
guy-at-the-desk: no problem, can i have your last name?
me: “ng”. it’s spelled...
gatd: it’s spelled n-g, yup, i know.
me: (in mild shock and eyes wide) OH, i usually have to spell it out for people...
gatd: oh, i’ve got a few friends with the same last name.
me: (even wider eyes) REALLY?? wow, it’s not that common a name in london....
gatd: oh, no they’re friends from home, from canada.
me: (eyes about to pop out of my head completely) NO WAY! HEY I’M from canada!
gatd: (finally looking up from his computer) WHAT? get out. me too! what are you doing here?
me: work. and you?
gatd: (pointing at his surroundings) work. what part of canada?
me: vancouver
gatd: toronto (does the fingers pointing in opposite directions, slight shrug of shoulders in acknowledgement of east v. west thing).

how strange... but this simple interaction made me feel less of a foreigner in this city of foreigners. it reminded me of one of the things i love about vancouver (and canada), and i quite nearly skipped all the way back to the office.

photo: gorgeous chocs bought for me from dorset (south west coast of england) from chococo, a small company run by a husband-and-wife team (how cute!)