Last nights party

Last night I was invited by my former work colleague to spend a few hours with her and some friends in a trendy nightspot in London.

 

The reason for the gathering was that she "won" a competition where the prize was a free bottle of champaigne, 8 shots and a platter of food, and although I saw through it immediately for what it really was, a great bit of advertising, but the fact that my friend was going to be there with a bunch of her girlfriends meant that it promised to be a good night anyway.

 

What I didnt realise what exactly how great the night was going to be and how it typifies why I love the latin culture and think generally us Brits have got it all about face.

 

You don't believe me. Well, picture it, a young and attractive model with a group of her equally attractive female friends outnumbering me and the other three guys who came along more than 2-1, in a bar with a light snack and two rounds of drinks provided for free.

 

Now none of the girls got jealous or started acting like they were up their own asses, none of the guys tried to hold a drinking contest to see who could get shit faced the quickest and in the end we were all laughing, joking and playing silly games half cut yet all still under control of our limbs and minds.

 

I have always had a fond spot for balloons, but the game we played put all other games to shame. Not only was it very amusing and enjoyable to see all these attractive young women trying to play keepie-uppy with a balloon ( without using their hands ), which often meant rolling around on the sofas trying to kick it with their high heels, but the loser had to perform a dare which took the game to a new level.

 

As most of us were in relationships, regardless of if our partners were present or not, the dares were specifically kept light but could involve trying to get a guys number, having to dirty dance with no music, having to get a barman to buy you a drink, asking a stranger how well endowed he was, having to frisk the doorman and having to pretend to pole dance up against a wall.

 

It is almost impossible for me now to clearly evoke how much fun it was, but rest assured that if you are a person with a pulse, a happy attitude and good heart you would have loved to have been invited to this party and if you missed it you would have been kicking yourself for weeks to come.

 

All I can say is that from the moment I arrived I didnt want to leave and only did so because my cash funds were running low and I hate having to take the last train home to Gillingham so whenever possible I catch an earlier one.

'Natalie Dybisz'

Well if I thought that my multiplicity photo idea was new I was of course wrong, but also Natalie has proved that they can be very well done and attract a lot of interest both online and financially.
Apparently she had had over 4 million hits for just one of her photos, which clearly shows that she did heaps better at advertising than I had, but in time ... who knows.

A Double Edged Sword

I am beginning to accept that my trip around the world was a bit of a double edged sword, it was both the best time in my life and yet due to lack of planning about my return to the UK I am now on the verge of losing my house and financial ruin.

I cannot say that I regret a single day of travelling, yet the fact that I clearly had not raised enough funds to adequately cover my trip and the return to the UK has meant I am being chased daily by my debtors, have received numerous letters threatening legal action and my house will soon be repossessed unless something changes for the better and fast.

I should have never remortgaged my house in the past so that there was precious little equity left, I should have left enough funds aside to cope with emergency repairs / renovations to my property and i should have been more careful with my funds while abroad, perhaps going to
restaurants and cinemas less often and instead buying cheap food from supermarkets.

While it may be true that had I left my departure date off for another couple of years I might never have got the opoprtunity to go, as it is I am now feeling that despite not selling my house I still had pretty much burned my bridges back in the UK and that I should have never
bothered coming back and instead stayed in either South America or Asia and tried to make a new life for myself over there.

As always, things seem much clearer in hindsight and I can see now that despite a years planning and savings I was still in no fit position to go travelling with the current financial crisis already starting to bite down.

My other main personal failing is that I did not bother to study when I was working in London and so am not ACCA qualified and thus the chance of walking into another accounts job was always going to be much harder than it should have been, as has proven by the number of rejection emails I have received.

My biggest fear now is that I do not want to go from one mistake to the next, and yet with each day my choice of options is dwindling.

Just to recap - I have a house with no equity one missed payment and in need of electrical and damp work repairs, I have no job or savings to speak of, I have furniture stored at family and friends, I have no girlfriend or dependents here in the UK and I am in debt to a number of banks and credit cards.