PublicHouse
Hen Do Don ' t
My best friend is getting married this August. The fact that we were both born in the same year, grew up in the same town, have had almost identical upbringings yet she is currently engaged to the love of her life WHILE I SIT ON THE SHELF LIKE A JAR OF STALE FUCKING BOVRIL could be seen as a sore point. But luckily I am above all that. She has spent the past few months planning her beautiful wedding- I have recently discovered that my breasts float in the bath. She will be relaxing this summer on a tropical honeymoon beach- I will be on the streets of Shoreditch somewhere, having a conversation with a wheelie bin. As I say, I’ ve made my peace with it. Now then, this weekend was the much awaited Cardiff hen do. My sole job as bridesmaid was to book the stripper for the evening, obviously. I honestly thought this would be a simple and enjoyable task. To the point where I could casually flip through a glossy catalogue, entitled something like Pork Sword: May Edition, survey different photos of ripped men dressed as firefighters, policemen and maybe something unusual like a scantily clad orthodontist and simply point to the one I liked-‘ I’ ll have the sexy tin man pouring oil over himself please’. But it wasn’ t. The whole thing felt a bit backhanded and shady. I ended up actually texting a few men( called really ordinary names like Paul and Boris, not Dong Juan or Long Schlong Silver like I had imagined) who I had found on a website, called something horrific like‘ honk if you’ re horny. com’. It transpired that nobody could actually strip for us, since none of the bars in Cardiff would let them in. Nor, as was my suggestion, could they strip in the foyer of the 5 * hotel we had booked for the evening, whilst I beat boxed in the background. However, unperturbed we ploughed on into Cardiff armed with L plates, garters and a giant inflatable penis that Sarah( the bride to be) admirably carried with her and bummed people with all evening. The first half of the night passed in the usual happy blur of shots, cocktails, humping chairs, bitch slapping each others vaginas and sexually harassing poor, unsuspecting men. The second half got a little … Sticky. Split up from Sarah and the rest of the group, myself and three friends tried to follow them into another bar; 10 Mill Lane, which we were definitely on the guest list for.
The problem was, we had walked through torrential rain
The rest of the night was spent trying to order room service but being too pissed to realise I needed to use a telephone. to get there and I was at the point of drunkenness where I looked as though my face had melted. My friend Han had a word with the bouncer while I casually leant up against a lamppost, in what I hoped was a‘ coquettish’ position( it wasn’ t), desperately trying to control my arm spasms and stop my eyes from wandering off in opposite directions. Apparently he looked at the guest list, surveyed the state of the four of us and simply shook his head.‘ Allow me’ I demanded, setting off purposefully towards the bouncer, cannoning into several tables and chairs.‘ Good evening, old bean!’ I began.( I don’ t know why but whenever I’ m extremely drunk and trying to act sober, I revert into what can only be described as‘ Old English’. I once, after a night out, asked my parents whether they would like me to‘ entertain them with my banjo playing’. We don’ t own a banjo.‘ My pals and I were hoping to enter your fine establishment’ I continued,‘ in search of a few light ales. Or perhaps shake a wicked hoof on the dance floor. But, by ginger! There seems to have been some sort of beastly mix up with the guest list. Could you just be a ruddy good egg and let the four of us in?’ The bouncer shot me a look somewhere between pity and revulsion.‘ No, love.’ It was at this point that I lost it.‘ What are you?’ I demanded.‘ A MAN OR A MOUSE?!!!’( I don’ t know where I got this phrase
from and hope to god I will never feel the need to use it again). The evening then deteriorated further as we headed to Chippy Lane, a street where the entire population of Cardiff go at the end of a night for a bag of chips and a fight. I ordered a light bedtime snack of a kilo of chips, cheese and gravy( just, don’ t) with some sort of pasty, which I like to think was cheese and onion but in all honesty was probably corned beef. Armed with our fortifying and nutritious snacks, Han and I somehow managed to find our way into a taxi. Here is where I got slightly confuddled- in London, I will always get an Uber. I love Uber. I have often toyed with the idea of becoming an Uber driver myself, before my friend reminded me of how I once followed my satnav blindly and trustingly through a closed wooden gate. But the beauty of an Uber taxi is that the fare is simply charged to your card, removing the need to pay in cash at the end of the journey. So as we pulled up at the hotel, I cheerfully leapt out of the taxi, slamming the door shut gaily behind me with a cry of‘ thank you kind sir and good night!’ before cavorting my way into the hotel, leaving the taxi driver shocked and outraged behind me. The rest of the night was spent trying to order room service but being too pissed to realise I needed to use a telephone. Apparently I was shouting crossly at the menu,‘ PIZZA! PIZZA!‘ A PEPPERONI PIZZA PLEASE!’ before finally passing out fully clothed with my shoes still on. Sarah made it back half an hour later, dragging along her deflated penis and proceeded to loudly order a Domino’ s in the foyer of the hotel, while rolling around deliriously on the marble floor in her veil and garter. Apparently the poor hotel porter was so disturbed by the whole event that he promised to personally carry the pizza up to her hotel room just as long as she would‘ please leave the foyer now madam. Please. For the love of god’. St. David’ s Hotel- sorry, next time we will book a Premier Inn. Cardiff- If you find my red G-string could you please post it back to me.
Gabrielle Fernie
@ gfernie1
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