Everyone has their own private hell

This is mine: Hell. Vanilla in Roppongi. On the plus side, it only cost 1000 yen to get in, and that included two free drinks. And, er, er, er, that's it. I can't really think of any other pluses. Oh, one more: it was cheaper than having to get a taxi across Tokyo, or sit in an internet cafe, or in the street until first train. But that's it. I dislike nightclubs. (oh, unless they are trashy, have places to sit, and / or play cheesy music). Vanilla was too big, too crowded, too smoky and too full of people shoving their way about. Just NOT my thing. At all. I mean, back in the day, when I enjoyed taking the odd bit of whatever, I quite enjoyed going to clubs. But alcohol alone is not enough to drown out the crowds, smoke or noise.

But I'm a bit hungover now, so rantings are part of the territory.

One of the sad things about living the life we do here, is that, inevitably, people will be constantly leaving. On the plus side, it also means new friends are potentially always arriving too. Last night, however was yet another farewell party. It wasn't in Vanilla, that was the after restaurant after bar after bar location.

I'm not sure I'd find the restaurant again, but Nikki and I found a cute little Thai place somewhere in Shibuya/Omotesando/Harajuku in which to bolt down some food and a quick beer before going to Tokyo Salon, which was a fab place for a leaving party. With cute Brazillian/Japanese bar staff WITH serious attitude. The deal was nomihodai so I'm not sure how much I drank but, combined with the drinks thoughout the evening, and the headache this morning, could have been a few. We had the place to ourselves, apart from a very odd guy with a huge tattoo on his chest (why?) and a feather (!) sticking out his hat. Anyway, it was fun. And of course, seeing your boss pissed for the first time is ALWAYS amusing. Especially when you're not so pissed...!

From there we went to What the Dickens, by which stage I was on full talking bollocks mode. Nice place. Very hard to find though. The highlight, apart from fun company, was the exTREMEly nice packets of Salt and Vinegar and Cheese and Onion crisps they had there. They weren't Walkers, but fuck they were good!

Of course, this is where the problem of the having to go to Vanilla came about. By the time we got to What the Dickens, I had a choice between having one drink and going home... or staying out all night. Which pisses me off. Anyway, I wasn't ready to go home so that's how that all came about.

And, up until the point of getting to Vanilla, it was a really good fun evening. It's just such a shame somewhere like Tokyo has such a crap transport system*. London spoiled me. London has nightbuses. You can get from anywhere to anywhere, on public transport 24/7. I mean, you might need to get two buses to do so, but the point IS it's possible without costing the earth. And it amazes me that other cities don't do so too.

Anyway, I crashed out at about 6.30 this morning, have a hangover now, and should be eating and drinking with some friends. Motivation, where are you?



* Okay, in it's favour, during the day the trains are very regular, and very clean, but they ARE overly crowded and stop too damn early. Plus, my location is very convenient for the places I work in, but not so much for going out / coming home at night.

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Dear Liver,

I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. I know I forced a vat load of vodka through you last night. Did you enjoy that as much as I did? I hope you did. I had no intention to cause any suffering to you, I'm sure you realise that.

Further more, I'm aware you and I didn't get into bed until 6.30am and that, after just a few hours break, we hopped on a train and went out to the leafy laned area of wherever-it-was-that-we-were and that I, again, made you suffer a large amount of shochu and wine.

But it was so lovely to sit in a garden wasn't it? And on a terrace? And in a real living room? With good company, sukiyaki, cheesecake, sponge cake and more.

And let's be fair, wine is made from grapes, and they have vitamins in them, right? And the shochu's were mixed with vitamin rich lemon / grapefruit / apple juices, so it wasn't all bad, eh?

And besides, you allowed me to walk around with the size label on my new t-shirt, in full view of everyone, and didn't say anything to me. I can forgive you that, please forgive me for the alcohol. I promise we'll drink nothing else for at 24 hours now, maybe even longer.

Your friend,

Jo.