Party season? Bah, humbug!

I see Time Out Beijing is having a Christmas Party tonight.

I had been thinking of going. There's supposedly a free flow of drink for 100 RMB. (Although I fear it will be hemmed around with all sorts of restrictions; and the venue will probably run short in no time. And, as I've observed before, I don't think free-flow drinks are a good idea - it just leads to bad behaviour.)

I had been thinking of going, but...

It's on a Friday night (rather than the usual Saturday); getting anywhere over on the east side of the city in Friday evening rush hour traffic is a nightmare - people are increasingly reluctant to venture far from where they live on Fridays.

It's in a nightclub. A particularly crap nightclub that has only just opened - to universally terrible reviews.

It's in a shitty location (unless you happen to live or work nearby), inaccessible via the subway network.

And there are probably about a million other parties on tonight competing with it. (This, believe it or not, is the Christmas weekend in Beijing. Most expats who have the wherewithal to escape the city during the holidays contrive quite long breaks for themselves; and the exodus will be starting in earnest next week. This is the week when all the works Christmas parties happen, and this weekend will see the last orgy of Christmas Fayres and such [most such events were scheduled last weekend or the weekend before].)

I wish you well, Time Out. But you guys did make some really dumb decisions about where and when to throw your party this year.

I'm staying in the 'hood tonight. And I may need to don my longjohns even for such a modest expedition as that!