today is my thirtieth birthday, but last weekend was the day i'll remember celebrating my birthday. for weeks, rebekah had been planning a surprise day for me, and i only knew what i had to know in advance. like, to be free that day, and to be in a certain place at a certain time. a few days before the big day, the rules changed a little to include, "meet me at my house at one now, and we'll be making a pick up at liverpool street before we leave for the 'thing' at four"...
dee and i struggled to get anywhere for one because the overground was not running as per, but when we fell through her apartment door just before two, i fell right into three helium balloons emblazened with "thirty and fab!" written on them... and pink champagne and an array of finger foods waiting for us. pre drinks at their finest!
we sat and chatted and drank bubbly for about an hour or so, before it was time to go and collect the thing from liverpool street station...the 'thing' that ended up being kim from what peggy said! rebekah had been sneakily crafty behind my back and invited my bested blogging buddy down to the big smoke to help celebrate my big day with me, and all without me knowing!
with kim on board, we jumped on the tube and headed west. i was still none the wiser about where we were going or what the actual plan was, with with giant pink balloons and chatty catch ups on the tube and the five of us dolled up to the nines, we surely got a fair bit of attention.
twenty minutes later, we were at paddington station. i joked that maybe we were going to swindon. everybody laughed, but i did wonder if that was actually the plan. not that it would have been a problem, just... i knew we had plans later that night at a specific time, and wondered how we'd get to swindon and back in that short amount of time... but no! we walked a few minutes along the canal, and suddenly it all pieced together...
with kim on board, we jumped on the tube and headed west. i was still none the wiser about where we were going or what the actual plan was, with with giant pink balloons and chatty catch ups on the tube and the five of us dolled up to the nines, we surely got a fair bit of attention.
twenty minutes later, we were at paddington station. i joked that maybe we were going to swindon. everybody laughed, but i did wonder if that was actually the plan. not that it would have been a problem, just... i knew we had plans later that night at a specific time, and wondered how we'd get to swindon and back in that short amount of time... but no! we walked a few minutes along the canal, and suddenly it all pieced together...
we were going on a canal boat ride! i was ushered into the union bar along the bank where, lo and behold! another seven of my friends had gathered to surprise me! friends that aren't actually friends with each other, or really know each other - or rebekah, and she'd managed to get eleven of my best mates - from far and wide into one pub, and eventually, on to a boat in north london.
girlfriend is incredible.
the boat was super pretty. she was called the 'lady a', and captain mike was the guy in charge for the day. after the house rules and basic safety junk, we were off. while we puttered through the canals, we dined on many a pink snack and loads of pink wine, laughing, giggling and waving at the locals, the diners on the banks, and generally chatted with mike. we we headed to camden when all of a sudden we hit a snag; there was a boat stuck in the tunnel we needed to use to get there. in actual fact, there was a floating bookshop stuck in the tunnel we needed to use to get there.
we had cars meeting us in camden to make it to our next stop on time, so this small hitch in the plan sent rebekah and lp into re-planning mode; the re-booking of cars commenced while mike backed us up, back the way we'd just come from, so the canal-rescue team could swoop in and save the book shop from a potential watery death. what a saga!
once our hour was up and we found our cars, we were whisked away to our next event; mnusical bingo! now, i won't go on about this because you've read all about one or two times before, but i will say this: these club nights are the best nights of my life. every time. honestly, from the minute we walk in the door til the point we rush out scrambling for the tube, i don't stop dancing, singing, laughing. it's so much bloody fun, and i absolutely loved spending another quality night out, but this time with eleven of my favourite people. if you ever get the chance to go, go.
so, if this is thirty, then... christ. it's pretty bloody awesome.
