Lauren Lakey

Wednesday evenings tend to be our social evenings, and this occasion was no different with the exception of a little blurring of the lines between reality and the virtual world. The night involved a lot of pizza, laughing at each other and taking turns to use the Oculus… this included a chicken simulator (because who doesn’t love pretending to be a chicken) as well as catching basketballs with your head and a game that a few were a little too scared to play. I’m not sure whether it was more fun being the player or the spectators!

On a sunny day in late December, having spent the morning playing games and being festive in the office, we set off on a train journey towards the Capital!

En route to London, we found plenty of ways to entertain ourselves and spent our journey mainly playing the Who am I game.. although unfortunately it involved no stickers on foreheads.

After checking in to a very pleasant hotel, we headed off to activity number 1.. A real life escape the room game! Once here, we split into two teams – Greg v Graeme – and each entered two identical rooms with the challenge of using the clues in the room to solve the murder mystery and escape from the room! Despite a high level of intelligence across both teams, it proved trickier than anticipated. A few clues later and both teams seemed about even, however towards the end, Graeme’s team were held up by a faulty torch and this proved to be a costly set back! Greg’s team managed to get out before the hour was up whilst Graeme’s team were left frantically trying to put the clues together and after being given a little extra time, finally managed to escape.

Having escaped the rooms, it was time to document our adventure using the photobooth and dress up gear provided…

 

There was still more fun to be had however! The part of the evening that Alex in particular had been looking forward to.. food! We all enjoyed a very festive meal (and a few festive drinks) as the evening got underway.

The evening progressed and next on our agenda was the Vodka Ice Bar! We all robed up and entered the frosty bar, where of course the only way to warm up was to enjoy a few more festive drinks, served in glasses made from ice.

 

After 45 minutes we were thoroughly frozen and it was time to head to some bars of the traditional variety. This turned out to be just the one bar for the rest of the night, mainly due to the allure of the gaming tables that were discovered – Pacman in a club has never seemed so appealing! A number of hours, shots, Pacman games and dances later it was time to hit the hay and we all headed back to hotel for some well earned sleep after a very enjoyable day and evening.