I'm not a bad girl, really I'm not........ Well, not when I'm
sober
at any rate. It's the drink that gets me into trouble you see and I should know better. I mean when a girl gets to her late twenties, she should know when she's had enough, but, that's me all over. Once I start, I never seem to know when to stop.
I had thought I had got over my little.. erm "problem "when I got married and settled down. And, I think even my closest friends will tell you that I behaved myself very well for the best part of two years, until that fateful day out with the girls.
Unfortunately, I have no excuses for what happened...apart from the fact that Tony, my husband, was thoroughly beastly to me the evening before. And, it was all because I went over my clothing budget for the third month running. I had bought a delightful little cocktail dress at the Harrods's sale you see. It was a dress that was totally irresistible and just my size and colour. I mean it was an absolute give-away at £99. Well it had been marked down by £50.....I ask you? Not that Tony appreciated my eye for a bargain. He was furious and went about slamming doors and muttering all evening. Eventually, he got me mad too, and, we had the worst row we've had for ages..
All it did, was make me determined to go on the trip the next day and have a good time. To hell with my miserable mean husband was my attitude.
Now before you go further with my little story, I want you to admit that there are some things that all of us have done that we look back on and regret. For example, every time I think of what happened on that day I blush with shame.....but, what's done is done and you have to move on.
The trip with the girls from work had been organised months ago. I had paid for it in advance and had been looking forward to going for weeks. We usually had about three outings a year and they were very popular with our small group, the ladies from support services at our law firm, "Jennings and Maltby." There were only 6 of us, but, we found that was about the right number for days out like this. We always had a great time and got on really well.
Susan had organised this particular one and she had arranged for us to have lunch one Saturday in London and then go on to see a matinee show of the musical "Chicago" in the West End.
As the show started at 3.00 pm and our lunch was booked for 12.30 pm. we had plenty of time for a leisurely meal in a nice restaurant. We chose Nando's, which was not far from the Adelphi Theatre in the Strand, where we were due to go for the matinee performance. With our lunch, we ordered 2 bottles of white wine to go with our meals, and, some of us drank more than others. (me for one) Consequently, we ordered another bottle. Later on, we all had coffee and the time just slipped away as we talked and laughed. However, despite this, we still arrived at the theatre early.
"Let's have a drink," someone suggested and we all sat at a table in the bar. That's when I had another glass of wine.
The show started spectacularly and we were thoroughly absorbed in it. If you have seen the show yourself I'm sure you will agree how good it is. We had good seats in the Circle and Susan got a lot of thanks from the girls for organising everything. She's a shy old thing really and she blushed with all the attention.
Well, the interval came and it was a fairly long one of twenty minutes. I looked around at the girls, did they want anything? Only Rita and me, apparently, so the order was just for two more white wines.
I volunteered to go.
I joined the queue at the bar and my face fell. It was rather long, too long really. The bar staff were very busy. Would I get served in time? I contemplated this thinking I should just go back to my seat.
Just then a guy, who I hadn't noticed before, was signalling to me from a good position at the front of the bar.
"What do you want?" He mouthed.
I was taken aback, but, managed to regain my composure. After all, I reasoned to myself, why wouldn't a complete stranger want to buy an attractive girl a drink?
"Two white wines," I mouthed back.
"Then, soon afterwards, he was at my side holding drinks on a large tray. "Take yours," he smiled, "my treat."
"Well thank you," I managed to say.
"The queue was rather daunting, so I took pity on you" he explained. "By the way, I'm sitting right behind you in the theatre"