Reminded of Things I Wanted to Forget

During the long and hot lonely nights in Malabo, I muse on things long gone and happy times, usually. I had given a general notice to all and sundry about my weblog and hoped all my friends and family would enjoy the tales of such immense stupidity and corporate over indulgence. The first response was from a colleague that had been with me during an event that I had tried to forget but he was expecting it to be the leading article. I can say that we both suffered badly during that event but it all started during one Halloween in Beaumont Texas. I had been working on a large combined cycle power generation project and a group of 4 youngish engineers had decided to go to the town centre to enjoy the festivities in the entertainment district. I was one of the unfortunate 4. The night had started out very nice and we were having a great time dancing a little and having a few beers. We ended up in a nightclub called the black cat and the atmosphere was great. There were lots of people in fancy dress including a Fred Flintstone and a giant pumpkin, I was dancing with a mature lady dressed as a black cat and feeling like having fun. So my colleague was also in the spirit for a wild night and we were not enjoying the beer so lots of folks were having cocktails. Now I can tell you I have only had cocktails once before and that was 15 years ago in Cuba and that was only because that was all they had to drink that was cheap. Local rum mixed with lots of different things to make different cocktails but they all tasted the same basically. Anyhow we agreed to have a cocktail as it was Halloween. We decided on Long Island Iced Teas and to me they sounded rather silly and probably awful but after the first slurp with my straw and sparkler it tasted pretty nice in fact it tasted great nothing like it had ever passed my lips. We were hot and thirsty so this first long island iced tea didn’t take very long to drink so wew ordered some more, I started dancing again with the black cat and Brad who shall remain nameless started dancing with a female colleague of ours, I was having a ball at this point feeling high almost with the great music and great party atmosphere I was dancing like a bull fighter and laughing my ass off. We ordered more long island ice teas, brad did say something about it having 3 shots of liquor in it but I thought they were short changing us as it was Halloween. I was feeling pretty drunk but in control and was still dancing I looked over to see brad wrapped around our female colleague who at the time had fallen out with us as she was a bit silly and we teased her all the time about it, but to see brad trying to give her a tonsillectomy was a shock, I kept dancing and it was as if someone had hit me on the head with a very large rock hammer my legs all of a sudden went weak and very unsteady and I was feeling very sick. I rushed to the toilets as quick as my jelly legs would carry me. I have always been a terrible drinker and I am an expert at throwing up without getting it all over my clothes and I can even get it down the toilet pretty cleanly. So I was squatting down throwing my guts up and I felt a lot better after that but I managed to stagger back to the table next to Brad and the female colleague but instantly I sat down I threw up all over the table, I slid onto the chairs and was throwing up under the table and a lot as well, I remember staggering across the dance floor throwing up everywhere, hopefully not hitting anyone but I cant remember, everything was a blur, I threw up in the toilets again and the next thing I remember was being woken while I was slumped across a table in the entrance by the youngest guy in our group called Joe Miles, and he just told me he was taking me home, he lifted me up and carried me across to the lifts and down to the lobby and outside where I promptly threw up into the flowers and I kept throwing up every two paces across the street to the taxis, he looked at me and he told me afterwards I was smiling at him while I was throwing up. I managed to get in a taxi and not throw up in the car. I stumbled into bed and slept for 5 hours only, I was awoken by the site manager saying the customer wanted to start the unit. I dragged myself out of bed feeling like death and drove 50 miles to the site which was a really was a bad idea as I was still drunk and I don’t condone that sort of behaviour really. After arriving I was informed that the start was cancelled and I could go home, I was pissed off about that. The others arrived one after another all with different shades of hungover in there eyes but none as bad as me. We went out to eat and talked about the night before but they wouldn’t let me forget that I was the oldest guy on site and the most drunk out of his skull on Halloween. My only excuse is that I didn’t realise that long island ice teas had 4 different shots of liquor in them and I had 3 very quickly together. I embarrassed myself so badly that I always try to forget that event but really when I look back at those 12 weeks I had in Texas I had a great time and the guys there I worked with were fantastic and I have kept in touch with them since. One is working in Spain as a Steam Turbine start up engineer and another has gone back to Law school to become a highly paid fat ass lawyer. Joe Miles is still doing the same thing in the US, hopefully keeping other silly older guys out of trouble. Well the girl left and went to medical school, I did contact her once just to congratulate her on the choice, I just wonder if she remembers that she was swapping spit with Brad on the dance floor, something she was probably try to forget Print Article
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