Wednesday, July 9th

Today I experienced the unique perks of the press. We frequently get e-mails sent round the office as to different press events – usually free movie previews or parties for various products that are being launched. Quite a few of the big labels/department stores are holding “Christmas in July” parties, where they present their new offerings that will be available in time for Christmas. Just by chance, today marked two press events that Brielle and I were urged to attend by our editors as something fun to do: the Möet Hennessy Christmas in July party and the launch of the ZPen.

Möet Hennessy was up first and we headed to one of the poshest areas of London: Grosvenor Square. Whenever I see the name I always remember that Oliver Twist’s long-lost grandfather lived on Grosvenor Square, which showed how fabulously wealthy he was and how poor orphan Oliver would never want for anything ever again. The party was held in a small ballroom of a lovely hotel, with separate tables showcasing the different liquors, wines, and champagne. As my knowledge of liquor pretty much begins and ends with vodka (okay, a bit of kahlua too) I had no idea that Hennessy is actually a famous (and very pricey) brand of cognac. “Would you like a cocktail?” a very sweet PR girl asked us right away. She led us straight to the cognac and within moments Brielle and I found ourselves hefting large glasses of the finest Hennessy mixed with orange, with an entire orange peel artfully arranged inside the glass. What service! The first sip was very, very strong, but in a couple minutes the orange diffused throughout and made it much tastier, though still quite sweet for my taste.

We scoped out a couple of the other tables (collecting leaflets and press releases along the way) before picking up two glasses of Möet & Chandon Brut Impérial champagne. Alas I am not a big fan of champagne but Brielle slurped hers right down. Then we saw a man preparing Cosmopolitans with Belvedere vodka, and that got me very excited. My Cosmo was excellent but very sour with all the citrus liquors in it. A PR man very helpfully detailed what would be included in the incredibly pricey Belvedere vodka gift box: the white-leather swathed box, a massive bottle of the vodka, and a dagger ice-pick set with crystals that even he agreed was a little over the top. “Yeah, I don’t know why you’d need an ice-pick dagger, either,” he said. Hee.

While sipping our drinks we felt the desire to nibble on something, so we wandered back to the Glenmorangie whisky table which had a full array of fancy cheeses. “Can we just . . . have a piece of cheese?” we asked the girl. “Um . . . it’s supposed to go with the whisky,” she said. “Maybe you could sniff the whisky while eating the cheese?” Okay then! All I can say is: good lord is whisky strong. Even a whiff just about knocked me over. The cheese was definitely worth it, though.

We needed to leave soon in order to make the ZPen launch, but I lingered in order to sample the Dom Pérignon. I don’t even like wine, but when a girl has a chance to taste Dom Pérignon, she should take it.

Next came a race through the pouring rain to make the ZPen launch on the London Eye. Brielle and I were very excited about this because we’d really been wanting to ride the Eye – one of London’s most notable landmarks – but it costs about £13-15 for a 30-minute ride, which we thought rather steep. But this way we would get to ride for free. We had to be there right at 4:15, though, to meet the group and catch our ride. Waterloo Station was only a couple tube stops away from Grosvenor Square, but once there we still had to walk to the Eye. Silly me, I thought this would be easy. Oh no. We exited from some small, strange exit of Waterloo, and even with my map I could not figure out where we had to go find the Eye. What’s more, we couldn’t even see the damn thing. Here we are, searching for one of the largest ferris wheels in the world, a wheel that towers over all London scenery anywhere along the river, and we can’t find it. Forget the wheel; I couldn’t even figure out where the river was. Oh, it was bad. We ran one way, we ran another way, we ran a third way. The rain is sloshing outside, the alcohol is sloshing inside, the wind is buffeting umbrellas and hair and press leaflets . . . we were a mess.

At last, just by chance, I spied the struts of the wheel out of the corner of my eye as we headed in the (totally wrong) direction. We pelted through the puddles and thankfully found the group, 10 minutes late but just a few minutes before we all headed onto the Eye. Success! I have never been so happy that my chronic lateness didn’t backfire on me.