What I did this week...

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You know how office Christmas parties are usually dull affairs. Everyone makes polite conversation over a glass of wine and then heads off home early.

The only thing which can liven up a Christmas party is if someone - maybe someone who's had a bit more to drink than they are use to, perhaps - says or does something memorable. Welcome to my Christmas party 2010...

I've been in my "new" job since July. I haven't really discussed my private life with many of my colleagues. It's not that I hide anything from them - I just haven't gone out of my way to make them aware of my domestic arrangements. There's been a lot of use of phrases such as "my other half" and "my partner" bandied around when it comes to discussing weekend plans and holidays...

Anyway, I wasn't going to drink at yesterday's Christmas party. I was due to head out to my partner's parents place in the evening (I'm doing it again...) and so the plan was to head off at a sensible time. Then the snow came down and I became worried about the prospects of getting home again late in the evening, so decided to just stay in London last night. Of course, that meant I was free to consume beer.

Our Christmas party had comedians entertaining after lunch. They weren't great, but weren't dire either. The MC was engaging in the usual banter with the crowd, and doing the usual thing of jokingly trying to set people up. So, he was joking with a woman the other side of the room who said she wanted a man, and he came over to me and said "you're a young guy, do you have a girlfriend?"

Maybe flattered by being called young. Maybe just a bit pissed. Whichever it was, I had to make a snap decision. Do I go with this. Or do I out myself in front of all my colleagues and in the process derail the comedian from his routine. You can guess which option I went for...

I don't recall the exact phrasing, but I remember answering with "you're barking up the wrong tree there..." and then going on to explain that I do have a boyfriend, except my colleagues didn't actually know that until now...

Initially, I thought "this is cool". Then I spent several hours thinking "OMG what have I done..?"

Just wonder how I'll feel when it comes to going back into the office on Monday ;-)

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