A night of entertainment.......... i think?

Well, my intentions today were to sign in and tell you all about a great night i had last night with a group from BATUS. However, due to the fact that i remember sod all from last night i can only tell you bits and pieces based on fact, the rest will be guess work based on previous sessions i've been involved in.

The night started with a ride in a minibus (this in itself was nice enough for me- no walking!!!) down to a steak house in Med Hat called.......... um.......... well, we'll call it "The Steak House". Are group was 30 strong, and made up mainly of staff and families from BATUS. Myself and a couple of soldiers started on wonderous things called "beer towers"- a 6 pint jug of beer with an ice chamber down the middle to keep it cold....... like it was going to last that long?! I had a 20oz new york steak which made me incredibly happy for as long as it lasted- which was about 3.8 minutes. After that i had to rely on booze and good company to keep me happy, neither of which was in short suply!

Now, after this great start to the evening, things took a turn for the worse when some prat suggested pints of gin and tonic...... can't imagine who could have had such a bad idea, honest! Now normally i would have been very sensible and politly declined such an offer and stuck to drinking orange juice or something equally responsible. However, the reason we were all gathered in a steak house was to celebrate Jenny Packham's last night in town before her posting to Cyprus, so i couldn't say no- it would have been very rude! After the G+T's the kareoke started....... oh dear! then the shots started flying around left right and centre- why oh why did someone think that mixing tequila with jack daniels and something else was a good plan? Then it got silly, and i found myself wondering, when 2 people were fighting over who was going to pay for me, how did i manage to spend $130 at the bar? Still, it was a top night and well worth every penny. And aparently, it ended with the standard declaration of love for someone i'd only met that night. But, that last bit of info is 3rd hand, so i'm debating on whether i should disregard it as bollocks- it never happened! Or, stick to my guns and try to save face by pretending that i was sober as a judge and that i really do love you Carly! As i'm leaving in the morning i don't really think it matters though.

The rest of my short time in Ralston has been just as great. I've been staying with Clare and Jim, who i was put in contact with by Jo from Radio Oxford. It's amazing to me that people i'd never met before could be so hospitable- Clare, for example. Pretty much the first thing she said to me was "i'll just finish up here (refering to her radio show on BFBS) and we'll head back and have a shower". My initial thought was "bloody hell this is a friendly town!!!". It turned out that she has 2 bathrooms and this was to be the major factor in us being able to shower at the same time- and due to the fact that Jim was home, and as it happens, was quite a big chap dressed in DPM's, i concluded that seperate showers was the best outcome.

My time here is almost up. I'm leaving in the morning and heading towards Medicine Hat. And it's just occured to me that up until now i've had somewhere to be- here. And although i hadn't thought about it before, it's actually gone a very long way towards keeping me going. Now though, i don't- i haven't even planned my route properly for the next stage so i can see the next few weeks being a major comedown- especially after such a top night out. Oh well, shit happens hey!