Big Adventures, Little World

Christmas Day in London was going to be very unique for all of us in a lot of ways. First of all we were all at The Alexandra bright and early by about 10AM so we could all get together for compulsory champagne and sausage and bacon sandwiches. Not really a very Christmassy breakfast but interesting nonetheless. Definitely a great start to the day, that’s for sure.

Then it was off to work. We only had the Lounge Bar and the Green Bar open for Christmas, with the girls looking after the lounge and the guys taking care of the Green Bar. By taking care of the Green Bar we of course meant we spent most of our time on the other side of the bar drinking with the customers. There isn’t much space behind the bar and it can get crowded with just two people behind it so having five people wasn’t going to make it easy so it made sense for us to be on the other side. As long as we served when people needed to be served then all was great. We started work at about 11.30AM and we had downed our first pint by about 11.35AM. A great way to start a shift!

Our day flew by with the majority of our time spent on the opposite side of the bar and a number of customers buying us drinks as Christmas ‘gift’ for serving them throughout the year as it was mostly regular customers in the bar. It seemed like no time at all before we were closing up the bar then getting ready for our giant feast at the pub for the 20+ of us that were there. While some went upstairs to change and shower, the rest of us stayed downstairs to help setup and chat with a few drinks. There were plenty of drinks there for us which some of our regulars had given us money to buy as well as bringing us in a whole lot of chocolates for us too. They really do appreciate what we do for them sometimes.

Finally we all sat down to our meal which was turkey with cranberry sauce and gravy and roast vegetables all cooked by our resident chefs. They had done a great job of it all and once again, just as I was the night before, I was ridiculously full again after the meal. Once again it was worth it though and exactly how Christmas should be. Once we had cleaned up it was present time with all our Secret Santa presents being given out to the people who were there. It was a lot of fun and there were some really great presents that people got and some people putting in a lot of thought to them. I got a nice bottle of wine which isn’t too shabby at all.

The rest of the night we spent watching the NBA on TV, followed by the cricket, which was disappointing for us Aussies and really should just be forgotten. Other than that we also got a poker game going, where I got screwed by the way, and also some games of cricket up and down the pub where I at least got a little bit of redemption for us Aussies by taking a hat-trick. We had the music going all night and danced, drank and generally were merry, which is what Christmas is all about right? All in all, it was a completely different way to spend a Christmas Day, but very, very fun indeed and who knows if we will ever spend another Christmas like that again.