Stag night then is it?

The term "Stag night" is becoming increasingly inaccurate as the god of alcohol expands the rather quaint idea of getting drunk with your mates, into a massive industry of globe trotting and pre-packaged events. Had i known what was expected of me i wouldn't have spent so much on the engagement ring and instead saved up for the towering expense of a week in Prague indulging in extreme sports and high class lapdancers. Every stag related website, of which there are plenty, is dedicated to fleecing as much out of you as they can by flaunting the whole last-chance-to-do-anything-fun myth and that just going to the pub is not considered good enough these days. I've been on a few stag nights and they've all been a good laugh, inevitably because you're drunk as a lord - and they don't have to include naked hang gliding or terrorising the center of some poor town. You see these alarming gangs of boys and girls out on their do's especially in places like Brighton and Edinburgh, scores of them wobbling about, trying to get as much beer down their necks as possible - doesn't make me think "yeah i'd love to do that!" A recent one was Jason's (see Sarah and Jason's wedding much earlier in this blog) where we spent the day clearing public foot paths and then got drunk round a bonfire, and rounded it off the next day with some canoeing - all in the beautiful countryside of Shropshire. It was fabulous. I'd love to do some sort of outside activity, but i live in London and it's January.

In the end i found that i wasn't actually too bothered about it and i had too many other things to worry about. However, Maria had organised her Hen Night - she's having some friends around on the Friday night for cocktails and Karaoke and then onto a spa on the Saturday - cool and relaxed and nicely done i thought. So i thought i'd best get on with something. And i have - nice and simple and perfect i think. Where's the best man in all this i hear you ask, well it was such a simple idea that i didn't really need him to sort it out - his job is to keep me safe :)

Here's the plan:
I've booked the downstairs Kasbar at the Kaslik restaurant in Greek Street. It's a cool Lebanese place with great food, fantastic Lebanese wine and massive smoking bong things, called Hookahs which are the most amazing smoke you'll ever find.



There's a 360 degree view of the place here:
http://www.toptable.co.uk/details.cfm/qs/rid|2065/

Got a load of good blokes coming including my dad, father-in-law and brother-in-law - difficult to know exactly where to stop with these things, if you're not careful you have the male half of the whole wedding guest list, so i sort of kept it to people who are actually doing something at the wedding. All sounds very civilised doesn't it?

Afterwards i thought it would be nice to tramp along to a dark and dingy goth/rock club where we could have a good mosh and smile at beautifully moody goth chicks. Now when i first came the London, oh 15 years ago, the one place i wanted to go to was the Electric Ballroom - Full Tilt night. The only goth night worth mentioning in Time Out and, of course, found in Camden Town. For some reason or other i never quite made it. Well, so, it seems to me that it would be the perfect venue for my "last night of freedom" and suitably scary for some of my "straighter" friends which i will find highly amusing. The venue has recently changed hands and the Full Tilt night has been replaced with the less articulate "Sin City". Don't be fooled by the name, it's just a bunch of friendly people having a bit of a dance and certainly doesn't involve human sacrifice, caged dancers, drinking blood or any other vampiric, or even remotely sinful activity - just lot's of black t-shirts, face melting music and heavy eye liner:
http://www.s8uk.com/sincity.html
Anyone i didn't manage to invite to the restaurant is more than welcome to meet us here.

The origin of the stag night seems cloaked in mystery, some hint at the old "ward off evil spirits" line which always seems to be a good excuse for party throughout history. Apparently the Ancient Spartan soldiers were the first to hold stag parties. The groom would feast with his male friends on the night before the wedding. There he would say goodbye to the carefree days of bachelorhood and swear continued allegiance to his comrades.

I would like to see this event as a celebration of friendship and of the new life i'm about to embark upon. I don't see it as being my last night of freedom or my last chance to have fun before i'm married - i intend to have stacks of that after the wedding as well :)

(oh how naive.....)