Word of the Day

to chunder: to vomit uproariously after being out on the lash

Needless to say, we exchanged our most disgusting drinking and vomiting stories at work today. Yes, we've sunk that low in a herculean effort to amuse ourselves. The stories involved lots of unfortunate carpeting, parking lots, strangers' bathrooms and taxicabs. Exactly what you want to hear to put you in the Christmas mood.

It all started when our employer decided to gift us all with bottles of wine, and we were debating whether to crack open a bottle of chardonnay after lunch. First off, let me say that the drinking culture in the UK is quite different from the US. It's common to see lots of black-suited City people around lunch time having a drink or two before hoofing it back to the office to do very important office things. If you were to do the same back in the US, people might stage an intervention to get you to join a rehab facility (preferably one without Lindsay Lohan), and you'd probably get fired.

Ultimately, the puritanical Americans convinced our UK colleagues that drinking on the job was probably not the best idea. One of the Americans suggested that we find a park nearby where we could imbibe in the wine off the firm's premises. The UK lawyers were initially a bit puzzled at the suggestion. Was greenery that important in enjoying a glass of wine? Did Americans derive some sort of special pleasure from drinking wine while standing on grass? In the end, the idea of shivering in our winter coats while encircled around a bottle of cheap white wine while standing on muddy grass didn't sound quite appealing enough, and the lonely bottle ended up unopened in the mini-fridge in our kitchenette.

I'm still undecided as to what was the proper course of action. It doesn't seem odd to have a glass of wine with lunch, even if you are working in the afternoon, and in fact, I've done this with partners at my old law firm. And it seems even less of an offense in the UK, where people drink all day every day. But then again, we are working for a very uptight NY law firm. Oh well, the bottle will still be there when we come back from holiday. =)