Hi guys! It's that time again!

Well, first thing was Cheltenham feel though. No biggie... just a logistic issue. So I stayed in Bristol and caught up with Ali who recently joined the board (alright mate!). It seems like he's been doing this for a while. I rocked up to his flat and it's a bit of a bachelor pad! Balcony, Pool table and a phat flatscreen. All near the centre of Bizzle. Nice!

We had a drink and his then headed off into town. We went to some hot little Cocktail bar at the top of Park Street. Tasty posh little place; not your usual chodey chain bar that I've often frequented at the start of the night. Exotic drinks, the right amount of people and some good old school Funk playing in the background. Awesome warm up venue.

I said to Ali that I would follow his lead as I felt he had more experience at PU than me. And I wanted to see how he worked.

Problem was, I didn't get a chance to at the start of the night. As we walk in, he turns to me and says “Right! We need to walk in, split off and start chatting to first group of girls we get to!” I was a rabbit in the head lights (it was the wildcard effect!). I didn't think about it... and just rocked into the place.

3 seconds in I lucky found a hen party to chat to. Jokingly I asked the bride why she was dress up like a Princess (playing the fool!). I was in; standing in the centre of their circle, chatting up the brides maid and her fit friend.

This continued for about 30mins. We talked to loads of different people, groups, mixed and random girls sitting on chairs on their own. It was weird because I felt like I had my first dose of high social proof. We worked the room and I felt that we owned a piece of it. But the best was yet to come.

Ali and I spotted the 2 set in the corner, so we made our way over to them. They had a couple of seats next to them. I asked if anyone was sitting in them. Through a rye smile they said 'Yeah sorry... they're taken'. They didn't want these 2 randoms sitting with them. We said fine.

We stood there near them. And I took the initiative to sit down in a mixed set of older looking opposite them. I sat next to a girl and a Ali sat next to a guy. The girl I sat down next to turned round and said...

“You can sit there... as long as you don't talk to us” - It was in a jokey fashion.

I remember think “Bitch! Right you're having it!”

The strange thing is, I don't really remember what I said but we started talking. I was really careful to not ask any questions. I've been wanting to practice a bit of Juggler none question theory (you know, where you never ask direct questions. Just strong statements like “Beauty is a common thing, but what really matters is a good personality and open outlook on life”... wait and see what they respond with).

Next thing you know, we'd been talking for 5 mins. She turns round and says to me:

“So... where you from?”
“OMG! I thought we weren't going to talk to me? We've been talking for 5 minutes!”
“Ha! [Some fluff I can't remember]”
“I from Chepstow – I've just come over from Bristol to have a good night out”
“Yeah... I know Chepstow well”
“Really? Funny! Most people don't know where it is! It must be only educated people that know where it is [She was a 27 Lawyer – very well spoken and educated and not from Bristol so I assumed she went to Bristol uni – where the posh people go!]
“[stories about Chepstow]”
“I'm thinking about going up to Clifton later.”
“[opinions of Clifton, the nightlife and the stuck up people]”

etc, etc, etc.

My conversion went on like this for a while until Ali said we should move on. It's funny though, how you can turn a conversation round from “Don't speak to me” to her asking me questions! I like those Juggler statements, they seem to work well.

The funny thing was, Ali turns round to be and says “You know that 2 set in the corner (now a 4 set... their mates came back to claim there seats)... well, they've been staring at us the whole time” By sitting down next to them, chatting and laughing with another group, we'd raised our social proof. I turned round to see them sitting there, looking at us, sitting in the way girls sit that just screams “Hey come and speak to us now!”

For some reason, we never did. This was a bit of a turning point in the night for me. Thinking back, I realised I was fucking knackered... it was only 12.30 but I was flagging already... and I couldn't have a drink to prop me up cos I was driving (me and drink – a completely different post!)

We headed up to Ponana's (literally haven't been to a Ponana for about 8 years!). The place was rammed! Too rammed! And to a non-pissed, tired, sarger, I was flagging big style.

Though I was funked, I had a couple of good chats.

First, whilst stuck against the wall, I started chatting to this pretty girl part of a hen party. I started teasing her about her mate copping off with some guy. I bet her, he'll be necking her within 2 minutes. We laughed and joked for a bit. And then she went off to find her mates.

Later on I saw her with her mates... I pointed at her and said “OMG! You actually DO have some friends” She giggled and said:

HB: “We're going to dance... are you coming?”
MB: “We're just going to get a drink... we'll come and find you in a bit”
HB “... okay …” [into the crowd she goes...]

I didn't see her again all night! Doh! I've done this a couple of times now and completely lost the opportunity. And, as always, those opportunities never appear again! Dudes! Slap me round the head if you see me do this again! I should drop everything and just followed!

Other stuff was pretty minimal and not interesting enough to write about.

It was a good night, but I was a little off. I'm still having issues approaching seriously hot sets or are more than a 2 set. Also, I need to start escalating more and a lot quicker. 3 months in and my game is improving, but I still have a long way to go.