'Nillas and Nimh'

To start with a "one liner" (literally) follow up to my November Nimhneach post. That last cane stroke is still visible on Bandree's left cheek on this, St. Stephen's day, 5 weeks later. We are both impressed.

December 19 saw us all back at the Academy for "The Last Blast of 2009". The vibe was good and many costumes distinctly seasonal. We were thrilled to have Bandree's homemade bra nominated on Fetlife, by our lovely friend J, for "Best Costume Award".

Madonna, eat your (candy cane) heart out.

Its amazing what Bandree can achieve with some felt, a couple of cottonwool balls and some safety pins. Which reminds me of the old joke of the woman who asks the man in the Chemist's shop if he has cottonwoool balls, to which he replies "What do you think I am, a feckin' sheep?" And on that note, no, I'm not going into any further speculation about the polar bear's more intimate details.


Bandree also managed to carry the festive colour scheme through to her accessories. Her other motifs for the night were peppermint creams and the discovery that Jelly Babies and Aero Bubbles are excellent together, eaten one and one.

It was a great night for costumes and friendly chat and we made some new friends, as one does at 'Nimh, and met up with some we hadn't seen in a while - you know who you are.

The title for this blogpost was inspired by a post on the BDSM-Ireland Yahoo site in the days preceding Nimhneach. The poster was proposing the possibility of bringing 12 or so of their work friends along to Nimhneach after their office Christmas Party. There were a couple of replies in the normal supportive welcoming line, suggesting ways of meeting the dress code etc.

In the heel of the hunt, some of the party lost their nerve, and the trip never happened.

Now I know that Nimhneach is a public club event, that anyone who meets the dress code, summons the courage and pays their door admission, is welcome. I also don't doubt that at any given Nimh', there are a proportion of one-off speculative visitors. Indeed, it is only by welcoming such visitors that we can help other people to discover and come to terms with their kinks or sexuality. That diverse, tolerant, welcome is one of the great strengths of the club.

Despite all that, I will admit to a sliver of intolerance at the idea that we might become the floor show for an office party "afters". If the whole party were going to be tolerant scene supporters, then their workplace must be like the set of "Secretary" and they don't need the Academy. If, on the other hand, they are a normal mixed workgroup, then the plan looked at risk of provoking shock and, maybe, outrage. At a PC extreme, the last thing Nimhneach needs is to be highlighted in some stupid workplace sexual harassment case.

Am I being overly cautious? What do you all think of the idea of vanilla parties coming along as groups to scene clubs? This is a purely academic question to spark interesting discussion. I am perfectly happy with the public access feature of our club and I am not for one moment suggesting that I would like a membership type approach, as is common elsewhere. If our club was like that, I, for one, would never have got past the front desk.

Wishing you a Happy Rest-of-Christmas and hoping that you all have the lovely 2010 you great people deserve.