Xmas do 2009

After calling in for a quick drink on the way home from work one night in the summer, we were so taken with the grandeur of Stock that we felt it would be perfect for the staff Xmas do. Graham extolled the virtues of the architecture to the staff and we were all raring to go and see this splendid building and soak up the atmosphere.

The night arrived and didn’t we all scrub up well, apart from poor Matt who had succumbed to a serious cold and was unable to join us. We met up and Graham was immediately mistakenly identified by a drunk as some famous personality off TV, as if!! Not having a TV we had no idea of course who he was talking about. I went through to find our table. The place was full, I wondered where on earth we were going to go, perhaps we had come on the wrong night but oh no, the naughty corner was waiting for us. In fact not just a corner but a small room which we all managed to squeeze into – even me - thanks Slimming world! Oh dear not a good start, nobody had mentioned this in the negotiations, had word got out about us? Surely we aren’t that badly behaved!

The food came and thank goodness I had thought to bring a copy of the choices as there was much confusion about who had ordered what! The table was obviously lots of mismatches thrown together and the underlying ridges saw the sad demise of many a glass of wine, even a waiter managed to knock one bottle over! However it became a hot contender for the Guinness book of records as probably the biggest wine doodle anybody has ever seen.

The food was gorgeous, service was great but the atmosphere just wasn’t quite right and people started to leave in dribs and drabs. Adam shocked us all by completely breaking with tradition and being first to go- he’s usually the one egging us all on to stay out! This left the field wide open for the younger generation to jump in and take Manchester by storm – I believe they managed to stay out till 5am, well past my bedtime.

In the meantime we managed a little dance before weaving our weary way home, until the next time. Watch this space!