As 7pm approached, and as temperatures plummeted around here, the only thing colder than outside was Ann’s humungous great trifle, liberated from the our fridge in good time. It was our contribution to our annual get-together round at Tom and Julie’s to celebrate Julie’s birthday and our neighbour Paul’s – although Paul and Karen were there in spirit (rather than with spirit), they were actually sunning themselves in Tenerife for the weekend.
In terms of getting to T and J’s, our first thoughts were to walk there – it’s only half-a-mile, so, in the true spirit of saving the planet and a healthy lifestyle – we took the car!
John and me in the kitchen (at parties!)
Ann and Trish in the camera’s lens
With the rest of us all present and correct – Tom, Julie, David, Rosi, John, Trish and us two – the evening began with the obligatory glass of fizz, before we sat down to rather tasty lamb and chicken curries with all the necessary accompaniments. Paul may have thought that the UN-necessary accompaniment was us lot attempting to sing him ‘happy birthday’ and having it videoed and facebooked, whilst he enjoyed the sunshine!
The initial seating plan of boy-girl-boy-girl etc went slightly off-kilter (I blame the fizz) and we ended up with a sequence of Julie, Rosi, Ann, John, Tom, David, Trish, and finally me. Still. it didn’t prevent us from doing the food justice and catching-up on each others’ gossip.
We may not have win Britain’s Got Talent with our collective singing, but, where we definitely DO have talent is with Tom! He can take any tune that’s currently playing, and in real-time, change the lyrics to individual stuff about everyone around him – and it all rhymes too! Brilliant!!!!
After scaring the local pussy-cats with our singing (who must have thought one of their own was being strangled), we got down to the serious part of the evening – enjoying the food and putting the world right. The quality of conversation was no doubt helped by the generous amount of alcohol sloshing about – after the fizz, it was beer, then more beer, then Amaretto in a very large glass, then Limoncello (in a smaller glass, thankfully) – then for me, it all went a bit blurry before Ann rescued me with a glass of healthy (boo!) Elderflower Cordial. I think I remember Trish offering me her shoes, but I may have imagined that!!!
I love Lemons!, but Elderflower is safer!
At our end of the table, the conversation was pretty varied: from Accountants, then Ofcom, onto the Benefits of Slow Cookers followed by University Life then Today’s Youth and their Travelling and finally: Vajazzling – Tricky to get your tongue round (tee-hee!), and a word I’d not heard of before, I guess I must have been living under a bush!
For those equally out-of-touch with modern parlance, you can find out more HERE – but be prepared, it could make your eyes water, especially if you think the only way to punish a pussy is by singing!
As the evening wore-on, and (for me) the alcohol slowly wore off, we tucked into Ann’s (mega) Trifle, and then Tom and Julie’s delicious Cheese-Board. The first time I looked at my watch was when we arrived, and the next time I looked, it was 12.45 am! The evening had flown-by, as it always does when us lot get together. Ann and I were first to bail, and thoughtfully, Ann took the wheel for the short journey home. We definitely should have walked!
Thanks Tom, thanks Julie – we know we can’t go wrong when you two are doing the hosting – we had a great time, and the food, the drink and the company was fab! – thanks for getting us into the ‘Christmas Spirit’. See you both again soon!
I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!
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