dress :: h&m // necklace c/o oasap // shoes :: ebay // bag :: asos (gift from boyfriend)
on saturday night i dolled up, gathered a group of my finest ladies, and set off into london - planning to paint the town red with a spot of dim sum in soho, and some musical bingo in islington. i was stoked to be wearing my royal blue lace dress again, as with my new pink bag and pretty jewelled necklace, it was the perfect setting for all of the pops of bright pink. i'm not a blue girl in any way, but with the candy-coloured touches, i was happy to compromise.
after my real talk post last week about not getting out enough, i spent the majority of the day doing absolutely nothing, feeling no guilt whatsoever, knowing that i had some awesome plans to look forward to that night. that's the thing about making plans, though; they always seem much more organised in your head...
with a couple of last minute cancellations, i arrived at ping pong on great marlborough street to a waiting becks and annalies, with young bec, davinia and andrea arriving not long after. starving, we quickly got to ordering our favourites from the menu, and guzzled glasses of wine and strawberry cocktails while we waited for the delicious arrivals.
we ate, chatted and laughed over our dim sum and cocktails for the best part of two hours, before we realised the time and rememberd our other 'plans'. we hurried along with the splitting of the bill (to the penny, thanks to annalies!), then made our way up to oxford circus to get underground and up to islington for what was supposed to be the highlight of the evening; musical bingo...again, this was the plan.
we arrived at the garage in islington at about 9:15, just in time for us to get in and grab our complimentary table. i was told to be there before 9:30 to ensure we were all in, settled and ready for the show to kick off at 9:45. well. rushing out of the station, we ran straight into a mahoosive line streaming out of the venue. i approached the guy on the door, explaining that we were on the door list and that there's a table with my name all over it, only to be told to get to the back of the line; the venue guys still had to clear up the main room as the gig that was on before the event had run over..
well, there's running over and there's completely double booking and cocking up an event, and this was definitely leaning toward the latter. after much complaining from people in the line, the super friendly* bouncing staff soon allowed us into a holding pen of a bar where we were allowed to buy drinks (cash only) from a heaving bar (one bar tender) while we waited for the event organisers to get the show on the road... meanwhile, three of my friends were trapped in a similar pen upstairs, unable to get to us while we all waited patiently for some sort of indication of restored order... it never came.
* 100% sarcastic comment
after almost an hour of standing around waiting and being told we weren't allowed out of the bar, we gave up hope and bailed ourselves out the fire escape. it had just gone 10:30, and i had known i would have to leave for my last train shortly after eleven anyway. had the event started on time, i would have had had a decent couple of hours of musical fun, but... because of poor venue management, i got to drink at islington's finest sports bars - the junction, until it was time to head off.
i felt so bad about the whole thing; having invited busy ladies out for a fun night that went totally tits up. i get it absolutely was not *my* fault, and after receiving an incredibly apologetic email from the organisers the following morning i understand it wasn't their fault either. rather, it was completely the fault of one greedy venue booker who agreed too many events and not enough rooms. a pity too, as by all reports of the event - once it finally started close to eleven, it was one of their best events to date...
probably because aaaaaall the anticipation.
have you ever been to musical bingo? how was your event in comparison?
