Ceilidh

On Saturday night, a gang of people from work days (or at least who roughly worked tehre at some point over the past 3 years) went out to the local Hilton hotel as you do.

Well, not quite. One of the former checkout supervisors, who is now a teacher (who was also doing HR when I started there, and interviewed me) , is an events organiser for a charity, and we were all going to their fundraising Ceilidh.

The first surprise was drinks at 6.30pm, with Dinner at 7! We all thought that was very early, but all made it, dressed up to the nines, and looking smartly glamorous. The second surprise was just how nice they have now made the hotel inside. Butcher boy kinda spoiled this moment by spotting his nemesis manager*.

Then we headed in and noticed that they had sensibly located a whole table of ex-work staff in one corner, a short trip from the bar and dancefloor. We all sat chatting for a bit and reading the Menu, which had 5 courses (if you count coffee)

• Melon with a fruit coulis
• Carrot and coriander soup
• Roast Beef with potatoes and vegetables in a caramelised onion gravy
• White chocolate and strawberry torte
• Coffee with mints

The food was really really nice, and we had not too much, but enough such that by the end you thought you'd eaten well. The staff from work, true to form had all brought in some fortification, and thus were only buying soft drinks. Mind a smallish glass of coke was £1.50! Mid way through the meal, the table next to us, which included the organiser (our former colleague) and her family started singing the French national Anthem, in French, which was a nice touch.

Following the meal, and a few speeches and thank yous, we moved onto the dancing. This was mostly ceilidhing, but with a bit of discoing in the middle, and a raffle draw. The draw seemed like it was organised by ITV, because people at our table and the one next to it seemed to win about half the prizes, including the big prize!

We all had a great laugh, especially with Auld Lang Syne and Loch Lomond at the end, although one of our females did manage to break my big toe nail and leave me a nice black bruise under the nails using her heels! It was great fun, and we left about 1.30am, having had a great night and raised some money for a worthwhile charity.

*When butcher boy is working backshift, he has to get the delivery truck into the loading bay at work, but the cars from the Hilton often park in the loading bay, or block truck access, and he has to get the Hilton porter to come out and move the cars. Some managers are less helpful than others.