NOT SO BORING PROMOTIONAL WORK

When you work for a blue chip company and they have big budgets anything can happen and most likely they will. Every year we used to go down with half a team to the Grahamstown Festival. It was an arts and culture festival held over a week in a university town.

We rented a large house and were surrounded by other companies doing the same thing. Down the road we had a beer company and across the road was a wine company and a spirit company was next door. If you wanted alcohol and cigarettes you were in the right place.

Our day started at around 6pm where we would go out for something to eat and normally end having breakfast at around 5am at a 24 hour steak house. It was long nights and got easier as the week went by. changing your sleeping habits normally takes a day or two to be turned upside down.

Basically it was promoting our cigarettes in night clubs and drinking spots throughout the night. The old prison had even been converted into a drinks hot spot. It was a no no to put posters up as we found out afterwards that the old building's plaster crumbled when you removed them. We won't be going back there again, plus a night club where some of the paint also came off when we removed the posters highlighted by the fluorescent lights combing the walls. We had no idea at the time but got away with it, we were only there for a week .

This one night stands out for all the wrong reasons, we were about to have a few more drinks with breakfast and make our way to bed . A group of older ladies joined us at our table. I was in my early twenties and happily married with a young daughter so honestly had no interest in this or what was coming. They must have been close to there fifties but out for a good time partying as a group. One thing led to another and after a few more drinks it was decided that the band playing at that venue was coming home with us. They were paying for everything and was their treat.There was going to be no sleep anytime soon it seems.

We left breakfast having not eaten yet as the women were going to cook for us and the band. All I can remember is the cleaner opening the front door whilst "stairway to heaven" was blaring out. She left in a huff complaining about the mess. It wasn't trashed but didn't resemble the house we first moved into a week earlier. It eventually got out of control as the other companies returning home joined us and it was an alcohol fueled craze fest.

My wife rang to say goodnight as I should have been in bed , I didn't hear the phone and one of the ladies answered saying she didn't know which guy I was. That didn't go down well with the missus when I spoke to her a little later, but managed to smooth it over. I won't mention what went down with the others but it took nearly the whole day to clean up , we never worked that night. The wheels had come off and the last day and night had been a total write off.

This thank god was only two years of my life but they were crammed full of naughty fun and things that you could write a novel on.

I will write about a few other trips we did as a team including writing off a brand new caravan. The only evidence we had left of it was a bar fridge on the back seat and a new tow bar lol.