birthday night

It is always the same: one of your friend's birthday is coming up and nobody knows what to get them. Especially when you don't know each other for very long.

It gets even funnier when not only one, but six birthdays are happening within two months. Oh, and Christmas. So money-shortage is another issue.

Sarah, one of the other au pairs at my kids school, turns 19 today, but we already started to celebrate on Saturday, meeting for a few hours in a pub. Wetherspoons is a really nice one, with a carpet that keeps your shoes from making too much sounds as you g o to the counter and a rather dark and old interior that makes it look really cozy. And it's a lot cheaper than a lot of other locations, so I can really understand why so many people come here to get tipsy before going to an actual club.

Anyway, we had something to eat and drink (the chicken breast burger is really good!) and left at around ten o'clock.

What came after that is starting to turn into a tradition of ours just like the pub night every Sunday: We got cupcakes at a cute little store just around the corner of the market that is still open at that time. Seriously, I would love to know when the guy sleeps!

Sitting at the Thames, we ate our pastries before trying to decide what to do. Kingston doesn't really have much of a party scene, and not all of us wanted to spend money on a club we might not even enjoy, including me. Good thing that there is one location that 'doesn't suck as much as the others' and has free entrance until 11pm called the Hippodrome Kingston. 

It was really funny. Of course it was still almost empty when we arrived at 10:30pm so we sat down for a bit before hitting the dancefloor. About an hour after we came it started to fill up which means it was less awkward to dance because you are not the only one there anymore. 

There isn't a lot to talk about the next drei hours, we danced the whole time and tried to stay away from weird guys as much as possible. After some time it filled up and got really cramped, but we managed to stay to the side which was a relieve especially to me. We even got a birthday message on the hugh TV thanks to a tweet! Not to forget a little countdown and a 'happy birthday to you' song in the middle of the dancefloor.

When we left we still had her birthday present that she opened in the middle of the street. This actually attracted  bunch of locals to come over and sing a song for her, too. And they told us what we already knew: the best clubs are in Central London, they are just on the more expensive side.

Anyways, Sarah got a feel-good-package for a lazy afternoon: a hot-water bottle in the form of an owl, fuzzy socks, three facemasks, blue nail polish, crisps and gummi bears, a cup with a slit for cookies, a pocket heater in the shape of a heart and a candle. This cost everyone 5 pound only which is the best thing about getting a present together as a group. And she really seemed to like it, so we did that right at least.

It was a great night, I really enjoyed it even if I'm not a big fan of clubs. Really looking forward to the next birthday (read: next week).

(15.11.15)