Imagine, if you will, an evening just before the end of semester, when one of my friends had organised a 'classy night', involving all of us dressing up in suits and listening to jazz, interspersed with the odd bit of metal or pop depending who was in charge of the playlist. Oh, and, of course, getting heroically sloshed. I'd spent a good chunk of the night looking after a girl who kept giggling and falling over, but she is not the object of this particular tale, as she was happy to sit on a sofa and sober up. I've had a bottle of wine and some Schnapps, so am feeling fairly cheerful but not in imminent danger of doing anything entertaining when we all go out for a kebab. One of the guys there, however...
I'm walking with a couple of girls and getting to know them when this guy wanders into our little group. He had quite clearly had a bit more than us, and wasn't quite sure where we were going. Midway there, however, he decides he knows. We disagree, so naturally he decides to prove he knows the right way by running off. We chase him down and fortunately manage to stop him before he gets completely lost or falls over.
So, this is annoying but can be dealt with. We get there, eat our food and prepare to leave. This is when we discover that, somehow, this guy has managed to get MORE drunk while we're eating. We know for a fact that he hasn't had anything to drink since we left, so it does flummox us somewhat. As a result, me and a couple of other guys volunteer to get him home. Ten paces out of the door, we realise he can't walk on his own, so we take him by the arms and help him stumble back.
This should have been fine, except that after a while he decides he does not, in fact, want to go back to my friend's flat. No, he quite sensibly decides that he's had enough for tonight and he just needs to go home and sleep it off. Of course, he doesn't tell us this. No, he just decides to detach himself and start running. Since we're all a little the worse for wear, he manages to escape and gets about halfway down the road before he falls over. So we pick him up and, keeping a firmer grip, keep walking him home.
Somehow, in defiance of all laws of physics and common sense, he's managed to get EVEN MORE drunk as we walk him back. As a result, part of the way back, he suddenly stops and decides what he really needs to do right now is urinate. Our attempts to explain the workings of flies and the prevailing wind to him are fruitless as he horribly stains his shoes and trousers. Such is life. We eventually convince him to put his genitals away and start heading homewards. However, like most drunk people he was now convinced that he was far better at things than was, in fact the case. In particular, he's convinced that he can walk perfectly fine on his own, thank you very much, and indeed starts fighting us when we try to help him. Naturally, he falls over and he continues fighting us when we try to pick him up. Eventually, we brute-force him into a standing position and keep moving, but he's still fighting us and we're moving at a snail's pace. That's when we spot them.
Someone had been doing road works on that particular street, and they've left behind a collection of road barriers. We grab one and, after some coaxing, manage to heave this guy on top of it. We then begin dragging it back to my friend's flat as our passenger clings on for dear life and occasionally treats the road with his own renditions of popular songs. Finally, we get him back, drag him off and put him in his flat, just above my friend's. This required the assistance of four people, as by this point he had totally given up on moving under his own steam. We shoved some water down his throat, put him in the recovery position and prayed that he wouldn't roll over and choke in the night.
The next morning, I discover that I'm the only one who remembers this, as everyone else puzzles over why the hell there's a road barrier and a load of broken glass outside the flat. It was a fun night.