I received and email two days prior to our big night reminding us that the start of the ball had changed from seven thirty to seven o'clock sharp. This didn't so much matter; it was just meant we had to phone for the taxi earlier than normal. On Saturday I had arranged to meet up with mum in Greenfield for coffee and to pick up some jewellery I needed (it's a girl thing, I hadn't got any that matched my dress), but I was back in plenty of time to start getting ready. Now, I'm the kind of person that even when they're going on a night out can get ready in fifteen minutes or less and perhaps that's a bad thing, but since I had two hours to fill, I spent those two hours doing pointlessly girly things.
We all met up at our house before catching the taxi to the Lowre. I haven't been in many 'posh' hotels so I couldn't say whether it was stunningly posh, but it looked very nice from the inside. I also didn't miss how the doorman made a point of herding me towards the lift as I tried to have a look around the reception. Probably didn't want us students mingling with the celebrities that stayed there.
Upstairs for the Buck's fizz reception, we were some of the first to arrive - finding ourselves a corner to stand and admire other people's costumes. One particular girl was wearing a turquoise dress that kind of came up at the front like curtains and was so short it neither covered top nor bottom, to put it nicely. She was orange, too. On the whole though, people had made the effort to dress up and this was nice; I think out of everyone there I only saw three people who looked more as though they were going clubbing and considering this ball is open to all years that's pretty good going.
The dining hall was bedecked in white and lilac and every table had an arrangement of flowers and tea lights. It was all very posh; in true Beresford fashion I have to admit the highlight of the evening was almost definitely the food. I had opted, naturally, for the vegetarian meal and to start this meant I got cream of tomato soup. You can put aside visions of the tinned stuff for just a second (I know it's hard to do, I love that stuff too); this was coarsely blended a little like purée but runnier, deep post-box red and very tomatoey with a small swirl of cream in the middle and a bit of fresh basil sprinkled on the top. Gorgeous. For mains I had chargrilled sweet potato with chickory, drizzled with a sweet chilli, pineapple and walnut sauce which again, was very tasty. The sweet potato was shaped into a square which later I found out was formed of little layers with a kind of cheese sauce in between.
I have to take a break here before dessert, to tell you a small anecdote. Now, there were ten or twelve to a table and we only had seven, so we were joined by a handful of others (they were all second years). Amongst them was ... yes, turquoise dress girl. She also had the vegetarian menu and upon tucking into her main she exclaimed, 'oh yum! lasagne!'
I'm glad nobody noticed me fight to keep a straight face.
Anyway, after a brief pause we were brought dessert. I had the crème brûlée which came in a round, shallow dish garnished with a lump of cream, a strawberry and two biscuits. Well, the cream was rejected to one side because that wasn't happening, but the rest of it was perfect. After dessert came the obligatory coffee or tea and petite fours, I just took the coffee and sat back to watch the jazz band until their set ended (we were all pretty stuffed by this point). After this point we all got up for a dance and to take more photos.
It was at this point it all started getting a bit 'university club' and the masqueradish theme kind of dissipated; we'd stood and had our photo taken by a 'professional' photographer (who was a bit rubbishy) and had a few photos taken with one of those white statue people, but by this time people were getting quite inebriated and masks had come off. Turquoise dress girl was passed out on a chair across the table and everyone was getting couply. I mean, this was all minor compared to the venue, the price of the tickets and the whole excitement of it all; that aside I had a great time.
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