Hopefully, people enjoyed themselves at the flatwarming. The numbers were good - enough to give a certain energy, but not standing-room only. Foodwise it worked out all right as well, which is always tricky to judge. And most people seemed to have a good time.
I had a pretty fun night up to just after the time I shooed away the last of the die-hards at 3am. I was tidying up before going to bed (as I did last time), and making a good dent into the mess... and I noticed the bottom two panels of the toilet window were missing. I then spent about three-quarters of an hour looking for them - and failing. I finished tidying up (basically, everything bar the vaccumming, and I rinsed and stacked rather than washing the dishes), and, because I had looked everwhere I could think of (including unlikely places like in the cistern and washing machine), I went to bed.
I got up at around 8-9am to look some more - in the garden, under the deck, in the recycle bin, in, under and around the fridges... still no luck. I washed the dishes, and then (since the house can't actually be locked up at the moment) went in search of someone who'd sell me some replacement glass. I basically ended up spending all of my Sunday morning (when I wasn't cleaning) trying to find a glass place that was open, since I felt reluctant to pay the call-out charge that most places would ask for if I rang one of those "we come to you" places. Trying and failing, by the way - I'm going to have to take some of the morning off tomorrow. I don't know how much it's going to cost, but I have an uneasy suspicion it won't be inexpensive.
Since I haven't seen any evidence of broken glass or anything, and it's not particularly valuable glass, I have to assume it's someone's idea of a hilarious practical joke - albeit one that's going to cost me a fair amount of money, has already wasted hours of my time, and will, come Monday, waste paid time as well as free time. I could try ringing everyone who was there later in the evening - and indeed, I started to - but it feels vaguely accusatory, and it got very uncomfortable very quickly. :/
I think that the thing that I dislike, far more than the stress and wasted time, is the fact that this has coloured my flatmate's introduction to my friends. It's not much fun assuring T. that yes, I did know all of the people who turned up (with very few "friend of a friend" exceptions), and trying to explain that I don't know why it happened, and that almost all my friends wouldn't do this - though, obviously, one did. :( S. seems much more blase about the whole thing.
Anyway, I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to have a nap, and try not to think about it any more.
***
By the by, the exploding toad thing? According to the Der Spiegel (via The Register), they've found out it's crows - they peck through the still-living toad to get at the liver, and when the toad swells up as part of its normal defence mechanism, this hole means that air is through the lung and into the abdomen until the poor creature pops. Here's The Register's version of the story.
Posted by svend at May 1, 2005 3:05 PMThat is so weird. Are they a sliding window that someone might have slid out by accident & was too embarassed to say "Hey I've done this?" Still if it was me & I had, I would have put it somewhere on the floor against the wall in a kinda hidden way but one where you could actually find it. I have to point out at this stage that I didn't actually get a close look at your bathroom & Hive Mind says that he went before we left & didn't recall seeing them missing. We left about 11.15 so there's a start to your timeline...
Anyway thank you for an enjoyable time. Really like your house. Good luck for finding the culprit & getting the glass replaced.
Hmmm, very odd. They were the not-hard-to-slide-out kind, and likewise they were all there just before Debbie and I left at 11.10pm. Very strange. You'd expect them to show up somewhere - panes of glass don't seem like the awesomest of souvenirs, even if you are the strange souvenir taking type. I hope that this mystery does not remain unsolved!
Posted by: Matt at May 1, 2005 7:34 PM