Social Butterflies

Friday the 25th - All I recall is being busy.

Belated birthday meal and drinks with Aliena (formerly known as 24-&-Feisty)

It was a case of rushing in for the meal, eating earlier than the others, rushing out in order to catch the Premiere (!) of 'Brick Lane' at the London Film Festival and then rushing back to the club (Club 49), where the after dinner par-tay was mid swing.

Now, the film was great. For those of you who have read the book, the film should live up to your expectations. It's a beautiful film about hopeless people finding hope in a foreign land. About affairs and the emancipation they often afford. About the need we have for relationships which allow us to be ourselves.

Of course it was nice to walk the red carpet, to be snapped by the paparazzi, to mingle with the stars and to partake in a question and answer session with the director and cast...of course it was. I felt awfully important.

I went to premiere with Katerina, Belle de Bengal and another friend of mine, Norah.

Norah and Belle de Bengal were plastered before they even arrived at the Premiere and BdB found herself chuckling uncontrollably throughout. Sigh.

That said, the film did sobre them up well i thought, only for them to continue the lash afterwards.

And that's when Katerina and I went down our own path to Club 49.

Of all the things you need to know about Katerina, these are perhaps the fundamentals:

a) She's gorgeous - never has, in the time I've seen her, a bad hair day or looks like shyte. Never.

b) She has unparalleled confidence and sex appeal.

c) Now imagine that girl you know who, whenever she steps into a bar, people (men especially) fall over themselves trying to talk to her/grab of piece of her.

d) She loves clubbing and, at times, loves the attention she gets because she is always so damn confused as to the reason behind it.

It's true, she's totally unapologetic about the way she behaves of what she believes (a little like myself), but fundamentally she doesn't give a dog's arse what other people (any people) think of her. Now this is what I admire. This is what I would call total liberation.

So, It'll come as little surprise that she attracted the same stares, the herd of men and the poised bitchy look of certain women once we entered the club and made ourselves comfortable.

'Are you a couple?' asked the lady behind the bar. 'Because if you are, you both look so beautiful'.

Ah, bless her, I thought.

And then she pulled a waiter (with whom there came a flurry of free drinks) - who then kissed her whenever he was 'doing the rounds'. She let this happen of course. Free drinks are a gift which far outbalance the refusal to kiss a guy who was in fact, a very good kisser.

And she has a BoyF already, doesn't she? Yes. But you see, it doesn't matter.

Now the funny thing is, another man, who'd clearly been able to see her all over the waiter grabbed a hold of her and promised her a night she'd never forget if only she let him.

'Doesn't it bother you, the fact that I've just been all over some other man'?

'No, I'm better', he said.

Needless to say, nothing happened.

You see, what Katerina does has nothing to do with the man. It has everything to do with the chase, the excitement, the free spirit running wild when free from the clasps of an otherwise fairly oppressive relationship.

On Sunday night, Katerina ended her relationship with the BoyF.

Then last night, he stayed at ours.