No Free Lunch?

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but, happily, there is such a thing as free champagne.   Last night, Miss C and myself dressed up to the nines (me in my 3-piece from Lisa’s Tailor Shop) to spend a very pleasant few hours at the opening of The City’s latest 4  Star hotel – open bars, plural, ice sculptures, canapés, sushi bar, lots of music.  At the time we left (early in the small hours) the party had definitely shifted up a notch: champagne corks going off like small-arms fire as a singer / piano player in a packed bar struggled manfully to keep in tune beneath the caresses of someone’s very drunk wife.  His audience, having had the benefit of an open bar for five hours or so at this point, didn’t mind a bit.  The guests were the usual suspects – an assortment of local business people, cheerful blodgers, and a fair sprinkling of adventuresses and politicians.