So on Friday night, the long awaited Haldane dinner finally came.
Goodness, I am not even joking when I say this but I felt incredibly sick and nervous all day! Total nightmare!! I had to sit and watch Coach Trip and My Big Fat Gyspy Wedding (mind-numbing tv) just to keep my mind off of it!
Eventually it came to 5pm so I had to get ready! I took my time though cause I still felt incredibly sick (haha). I finally got my make up and dress on and Nikki did my hair (which may I add was soo good-I'll post more photos once I get her camera!). Seb came round and got suited and booted up! I do have to say that I thought we looked very good haha!
Ok so it was time to go! I was talking sooo fast! SOOO NERVOUS! Our taxi arrived and we made our way down to Old College. Everyone looked lovely and my nerves calmed a little. A lot of Seb's male friends shook my hand and said hi. I felt that a lot of the girls were glad to finally see me because apparently Seb talks about me all the time (HA-HA!). It was nice to meet people that I've heard so much about but I did feel slightly under pressure to live up to my expectations. I felt like Daisy in Gatsby. I was on that pedestal! Overall though I think I coped pretty well and I tried to make a big effort to talk a lot to the girls. With boys it's easy because they aren't judging you (well probably judging looks but hey I looked good that night).
Anyway back to the dinner! Apparently we were supposed to be getting champagne but we never. A lot of people complained about that but I was just glad I didn't add any unnecessary liquids to my bladder as there was only one comfort break (after about 3 hours!). We stood behind our seats for 1 hour! One of the big army guys (I don't know the order of the ranks, I am going to guess Colonel but I think I'm wrong) was late! Eventually the important people came walking in to the sound of bagpipes. Such a funny atmosphere! We shook hands and finally sat down! People arrived late, however and we had to stand up again which was such a nuisance as my dress kept getting stuck under my chair(!).
The starter was already at the table. It was parsnip panacotta which was just all sorts of wrong. It was surrounded by peppers so I ate that but the parsnip thing had such a terrible texture that I couldn't manage it. Forgot to add that we weren't allowed to eat until the important person at our table did so. I wasn't too fussed if he didn't eat cause the food was awful! The main was a salmon dish with potatoes and mushy peas. I tried to eat a bit of salmon but I just couldn't! That's right- I HATE FISH! The potatoes and mushy peas were good! The wine at our table was delicious too and was going down a treat! Thank god the dessert was cheesecake! It was so yummy!
After the meal we had to stand up and toast the Queen and Prince Philip whilst the national anthem played. I found this absolutely hilarious as the old army guy at my table looked so emotional! Oops giggle alert! Thankfully we got to sit down and listen to some speeches which weren't too bad! The finale came! Two boys in the OTC played their bagpipes for about 15 minutes non stop, walking inbetween the tables, deafening us! Good players and well done to them but seriously one song would have been enough! NOT 5! THE DINNER WAS NOW OVER HURRAH!
We made our way onto buses to go to the barracks! Now, Seb has been talking about the barracks forever and the image he had painted in my head was nothing to what I saw! They were massive and looked very old with some nice architecture! We made our way into them and headed straight for the photo area! I wanted a photo done before I looked drunk! The photo we ended up with is actually very nice! We then went to the bar and I had a lot of drinks! We danced a little and I talked to some people. We did good and stayed there for 4 hours! But enough was enough, I was bloody shattered, so we went home at 4am. Gutted though because after we left they had a ceilidh and did Scottish Country Dancing which is my fave :(
Overall a good night and I woke up without a hangover so all was good!
