It is my mate Jill’s birthday today, but we headed out to the lovely Belfast eaterie Shu to celebrate on Friday night. It was the first time I’d been out properly since my birthday way back in the middle of January, but I was planning on taking it easy, as I was due in work at 10am the next morning.

The meal was really nice, but the effects of champagne / beer / a coconut type drink served in a martini glass with a raspberry in it unfortunately soon took their toll on me, and I ended up quite tipsy. Not perhaps as tipsy as Jill however – who was on very good form and had to be carted out of the place at 12.30am. She was keen to drag everyone up to dance, but unfortunately anyone dancing with her had to focus their efforts on keeping her vertical. I failed miserably at one point and managed to drop her, but in an amazingly smooth move, managed to wheech (that’s a Scottish word) her up so she was only really on the floor for a millisecond.

We managed to stay a bit longer than Jill, but eventually I decided it was time to head to bed. I did make it to work for 9.30am the next morning, but I think it would be realistic to say I was not feeling fantastic. It was great to get out though again, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we had a great time helping Jill celebrate her birthday! (And no I’m not going to say how old she is).

I am planning to start going out a bit more now – roll on next weekend!

Photos are here – it is worth clicking on them one by one as the captions are outstanding if I say so myself. Happy Birthday Jugs!