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OK, so I'm kinda ill and I am catching an early flight from Gatwick on Thursday morning. But I'm also in London and it's a Wednesday, I've suddenly realised. Kristine, Kris and Shelley are here as well, and it's Trannyshack night --plus the added event of it being Tasty Tim's birthday party... Also Dusty is claiming that George is her best friend again and that he might come as well. So fuck it, I only live once!
Spent 3 pounds on hairspray and a hairband and got ready for clubbing: The hairy look with the stripe. I just put on what I had worn all day, I didn't plan on another club night!
Met everybody, but I must admit that Too2Much fails to impress me every time. Razor Stiletto is definitely more fun, and the people are crazier! TrannyShack feels somewhat "uninspired"... So I can understand why George "couldn't be bovvered" to turn up as I learned later! LOL
I went home at 2-3, an rushed into bed but couldn't sleep all night. For some reason I kept dreaming of Dusty and mosquitoes...

Had to rise and shine at 6 though to make my way to the airport. The flight was on time but just as we were about to take off the captain announced that we were going back to the stand because some part had become loose. They got the engineers in and then had to top up the fuel etc. so we started with a 2 hour delay.

When I arrived in Bucharest it was already 6-7 PM and getting dark. Bucharest!! Romania!! How cool! How far East it is, too!
I had noted down some calculations of how much Lei to get out of the ATM at my arrival, but the machine was only displaying the new RON figures which it then didn't even dispense. I asked a couple for help and finally ended up with 2x 50 RON and no idea how much money that actually was.
I took the bus from the airport, fighting my way through the taxi hasslers -- what a familiar scene! LOL

Romania looks quite a bit like Georgia, only less rough and with less deep pot holes. But the soviet architecture is still prevailing, and so does the soviet attitude in the "service industry", I must say...

I found the hotel without any problems, thanks to my map. I had also acquired a language guide to be able to at least say "thank you". The place is excellent, in a private house run by a Canadian family. They speak English which is a real bonus, and were very helpful. MY hostess looked a bit doubtful when I mentioned that we hadn't bought tickets for the famous Kristal Club yet, so I decided to walk to the club to see if I could buy tickets in advance. As I was walking for miles through the dark and wintry Bucharest, knackered from not sleeping and with a nasty cough developing, I realised that this was exactly how I want to live my life! What a buzz: dying somewhere in an Eastern European capital from pneumonia! I'm loving it! LOL

Amazingly I found the club's doors open and some people were cleaning up and doing things. So I walked in and asked if they would sell me tickets, and they DID! A charming lady sold them to me for 400.000 lei each, and was full of smiles. How lovely!! And: I HAVE BOUGHT TICKETS!! YEAH! I am so resourceful! LOL
I had to spend all the money in my wallet, which made me realise how little money I had gotten in the first place! Luckily I did carry enough for the tickets!
So I went straight to the next ATM and having figured out how the new/old lei system works, withdrew 5 million lei: exactly double of the amount I would need! LOL
I am just not good with numbers!!
5 million lei are about 100 GBP, so that was more than I wanted my British account to suffer... I texted Kristine to ask her not to change any money on her arrival because we could live off mine.

I went back to the station and had dinner in a Romanian fast food place that Deborah had recommended. I insistently pointed at 2 of the saucepans and received a meal of cabbage and chicken liver! Probably quite a nasty surprise for some, but I love cabbage and liver! LOL

I had to admit to my hostess in Bucharest that Kristine and me were going to see George at the Kristal Glam club. The young daughter naturally had no idea who he was, and Deborah went: "Mhm.., there used to be a Boy George ages ago, but that can't be the one." Me: "Oh yes. That's the one." Deborah then told how she remembered the story of George getting on a plane as a man and getting off dressed as a geisha and how this got him into trouble with the airport security. Ah, those were the days! LOL

They were playing James Blunt everywhere in Romania. Bless! There are also many stray dogs in Bucharest, and I even saw glue-sniffing homeless kids, kinda scary...

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