They do it with mirrors

I really must learn to say No! A mate had a birthday yesterday. I suggested earlier in the week that we meet on the nightto celebrate, but he preferred to leave it until tonight instead. I hesitated to agree because I was committed to having friends over oo watch tomorrow's Grand Prix and needed to get the house looking presentable and organise food and all that, so I told him I'd think about it. I did that, and decided that since it was his birthday he should decide when he wanted to meet, so I said Yes. Not a good idea, even though I got him to agree to a compromise which involved meeting earlier than usual so I'd get home in time for a bit of preparation.

I did manage to begin the house-tidying, and I did manage to get in the food and the booze, all before heading over to my weekly musical get-together. After that it was straight over to meet Alan, fortunately early enough for our agreed meeting time to nip into Wynn's Hotel on Abbey Street for a quick toilet break. Naturally, I couldn't use the toilet without sampling the bar wares too. I always think of this as a travelling-salesman's sort of place, which it may well have been once. Its main advantage this evening was that it was quieter than the pub across the road. I had enough time to enjoy a nice refreshing gin and tonic with a dash of lime while I sussed out the rather strange, old-worldy decor, which included the always fascinating setup of pairs of blippable, facing mirrors.

The rest is history. For some reason we opted to stay on cocktails all night, beginning in Floridita and ending in the Mint Bar in the Westin Hotel. This is where we stumbled on the great jazz group last month, but they've now been replaced with a different, inferior crowd who didn't entice me at all to reach for the camera. The cocktails were good, though. So good that we ran past our self-appointed schedule and I had to make a mad dash to catch the last bus home. The grand plan of doing some house-cleaning when I got home went up in smoke. The only realistic option was to fall straight into bed and set the alarm for an early catch-up.

PS: 100 blip points go to the first person who spots my camera in this shot.