drunk and orderly on a hen's weekend...

9 ladies arrived at our place on friday night, ready for a weekend of partying! We donned our matching red t-shirts and packed the mini bus with loads of food and 5 cases of wine and champagne - and with me at the helm, aided by Dana and a sat nav - we headed south to Brighton. 42 seconds into the drive we came face to face with an oncoming truck in a narrow London street - and I was the one who had to reverse out of the way. Loads of fun with a bus full of ladies in the back screaming about parked cars and near scrapes. I was a bundle of mess before we even got out of Chiswick.

We only got lost once (ok, twice), thanks to a sat nav that was slower than me running, and we missed a turn-off off the M25 and ended up going 20 miles out of our way. The ladies in the back were well into the champers by then so no one noticed. Although they were awfully suspicious when they kept asking how much longer and Dana kept saying 50 minutes... The house we rented was amazing - huge projector tv, PS3's in every room, a kitchen with every conceivable appliance and the bedrooms were arty - we had a wall of pistol-toting Elvis's. Ah huh!!

Saturday we had an excellent bacon and egg fry-up for breaky, and then 6 of us leapt into the mini bus and went clay pigeon shooting (the hen's idea!). Our teacher was called Foff, and is one of the top 15 shooters in the UK (and also a fireman!). He was awesome. We had 30 rounds each to shoot. The first 10 shots were at a 'rabbit' (a round clay piece that shot out and rolled along the ground) and we fired at that. Foff told me about kick back - but on my first shot he stood behind me, and I actually banged into him! If he hadn't been there I'm sure I would have landed on my backside. After that I knew what to expect. He double loaded (2 bullets) for my last shot, and said if I didn't get it, fire again. So out comes the 'rabbit', I shoot and miss, and apparently I lowered the gun to my waist and fired again! The gun was getting heavy! Foff thought it was hilarious, like I was John Wayne and shooting from the hip!

I missed all in that first 10, but Anna shot 3 - all with her eye's completely closed! She used The Force, obviously. The next 20 clay's were fired into the air, traditional clay pigeon style. I shot down 5 of them!!! All on my own, and with no help from Foff (except verbal - 'shoot up and slightly ahead'). Pics of me, Anna, and Dana with a smoking gun.

Meanwhile, dinner was cooked for us at the house, and champagne was flowing like Niagara Falls. About 9pm the traditional hens night 'entertainment' turned up in a sailor suit, and was quite dreadful - Khanh was an unwilling, but good sport.

Soon after we jumped into taxi's and hit a club in town called Kulture. All a bit scary for an old girl like me. But I hit the dance floor - and with a glass of magic champagne that never ran out, I was out there busting moves with the best of them. I had a fabulous time, got very drunk (but not disorderly!) and once home I secretly stumbled up stairs and fell into bed, with Anna making me drink water. A great sister!

I felt rather delicate on sunday, and luckily some some of us got to sit around the house watching MTV on the projector tv, while the others went to watch Khanh's future husband fight (taekwondo type).

Coming home was quicker - and much quieter! Someone joked on friday that the mini bus looked like an ambulance - and with all the hangovers on sunday, it almost certainly was...