shewhomust | Happy birthday, durham

The party seems to have gone well - at least, the birthday boy seems pleased with it, which is the main thing.

First guests arrived on Friday evening, partying began in earnest on Saturday evening, when we met those travellers who were already in town for a meal at a local restaurant, and continued until this morning, when the stragglers gathered for a birthday breakfast of buck's fizz and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.

This sort of extended play party is exhausting, but it does mean I had a chance to talk to some of the people who had travelled farthest to be with us, some of whom we had not seen for a considerable time. Once the party proper began, I felt that each time I started to talk to someone, the doorbell would ring and I would be distracted by someone else - as is the nature of being the host. Other people seem to have managed to talk to each other, though, and not always people they already knew, which is satisfying! I remembered to bring together the people who were interested in cricket; I forgot to make the Macanese connection, but fortunately

helenraven remembered!

We had asked people not to bring drink, since that's the easy bit, but to bring food: this worked altogether too well. People were both generous and creative, and brought a great variety of delicious things, far more than I could have made, and more than we could eat (though we tried very hard). In addition to Ann's traditional biscuits (she has a huge collection of biscuit cutters, and makes biscuits for every birthday in the shape of the appropriate age - and sent a big boxful with the Bears, even though she could not herself be at the party) there were dips and crisps and cakes and a huge platter of baklava and other sticky pastries, and hummus, and aubergine dip, and

desperance's chocolate Saint Emilion, and bread and cheese and a big bowl of cabbage, which we finished off for dinner tonight. There's quite a lot left; if anyone is thinking of dropping in, particularly anyone with a sweet tooth, now would be a good time.

A footnote - no, two footnotes - to my post about moving furniture: we succeeded in shifting everything as planned, and were very pleased with how much more space this gave us, and quite smug when people who know the house commented on it. But:

David took the back lane up from the station, and noticed that one of the houses further down the hill was having a clear-out (it's the end of term, and this is a student area), and had placed some chairs and a box of mugs in the lane, with a sign saying "help yourself". We declined to replenish our stock of mugs, but the Bears, who tend to host music events and always need more chairs, went off to investigate, and came back with three chairs (silver painted and rush seated) and a pair of speakers. They'll go to London next time we drive south, but in the interim, I feel as if the house has already started to refill.

This morning I stacked the cases of empties in the hall, ready to go to the tip for recylcling: "Ah," said

helenraven, "there are boxes in the hall again. That feels more like it."

It's also the second birthday of this LJ; I think I'll celebrate with an early night...