Christmas Lunch with AIB folks:
My ex-manger invited me to join the team in Dublin for the Christmas party dinner.It was my pleasure to join them so took a half day off. Took the train after having a Christmas team lunch with my current team. Dublin was hit hard by snow this year so I was being skeptical about my transport options there.
Thankfully it was not as bad as I thought it would be or should I thank my stars? Got off at the O'Connell station and headed straight to my mate Anto's house. I was glad to meet him and Gwen. It had been almost three months since we meet. She had her own party to go to as well and she was busy trying out her dresses. finally we headed out on the ice clad pavements to Callaghan Davenport by Stephens green. 
But nothing starts in Dublin without going to the pub. The entire team were there at the Gingerbread man having a few pints just warming up for the evening. Anto exactly knew what I wanted and got me bottle of Becks. Gives the impression to everyone that I was having a beer while I was having just a soda. Perfect! Dave and Maurice were in black shirts which looked like they had planned for it. We aptly called them father McNamara and father Phelan for the night.
Rainford was already a wrek even before we started, the rest of the story with regard to him goes without saying anything. Macartan was every so pleasant to me. We headed to the fine dinning hall which was all set to greet two hundred guests. To our surprise we had some nuns as well and our good Lads did not let that opportunity pass by as well. I was the only vegetarian dude there, which as ever is an annoyance for others. I was served with some special Keesh and it was great.
It was Alan's send off party as well. he had some his time in AIB and done it well.
Shane could not be stopped at giving speeches and because he recently has had some good experience at it we had to let him off the leash. We saw a totally different side of Alan at his speech and let me not dive into the fine cracks/details and leave it at that :-). Brain was every so lively and he never stops cracking jokes and thats what I like the most about all these lads. Finally at 1am had to bid good bye to all of them. One the way back we walked to the well light grafton street which was all set for shoppers. I rested well at Anto's place for the night. Next day Gwen, Anto and I headed off to a coffee shop run by a Turkish family for good breakfast. On the way back went to the Secret park that was so secluded in the neighborhood.
Caught the train at 3 and carried on to join the regular Bangalore gang party in Belfast for the second night in a row. I say thats they way to roll. For more pictures:
Christmas party with Allstate.
This was a party that was at a much grander scale. Allstate apparently does have reputation to hold such large parties it seems. There was a strict dress code. No trainers, No T'ees, No Jeans.
It was quite annoying to dress up for the party given that the weather was beyond horrible!. It was the day when Belfast was hit by the heaviest snowfall in 25 years!! 990 people had singed up for the party and there was worries that many would not turn out.
But later I realised that when drinks are on the house nothing can keep thirsty humans away. There was a pick up and drop facility so away we went. It was arranged in a massive warehouse kind of place called kings hall.
The tables were all well set and the lights were all colorful. Artificial Smoke/mist was pumped to give an ambiance of a fairy tale place, but I did not like it much because it did not help my shots. I was allocated the table 66. This is where one has none of their teams mates there. Orphan table you may say. But my friend and his team were generous enough to make me feel part of them and I sat with them. Thankfully there was vegetarian food which even if served last tasted good. The desert was even more sumptuous. "ANI got talent" is what they had organised and we had two blokes with guitar and one singer who sang such a song that did not add any fizz to the party atmosphere. Two gentle men who I bet are going through middle age crisis were dressed up as Elvis and Queen Elizabeth.
The finale was a group of guys from Ap who danced to typical south Indian music. none were in shape, nor great at foot works let alone synchronization. When it started of I had to hand my head low in shame, but to my surprise the crowd there loved it and got everyone off the seats. I soon joined the mele. The dance number ended with "Jai ho". The team won the prize and winners had to repeat and this time everyone joined it. I guess that is what Christmas party is all about, just fun. Slowly everyone had serious thirst issues which needed to be quenched by a few bartenders. 
The floor was open and everyone began to shake a leg or two. Some ladies on the floor were experts and some men exactly the opposite, more on the terms of embarrassment to human kind kind of dancers. I had enough of Orange juice and wanted to move on. Alan dropped us back and that was the end of another good Christmas party.For more pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=304090&id=651679539
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