A sort-of-surprise sort-of-party
Mar. 14th, 2022 04:10 pmSaturday was ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
durham_rambler's birthday - a significant one, which he had been saying for some time should not go unmarked. But saying it is one thing, doing something about it is quite another. Not to mention that the more the government talked about putting the pandemic behind us, the more I thought "Not ready!" So it was not until March was nearly upon us that we agreed that we would have, not a party exactly, but an afternoon on which we would inform a limited number of local friends that we were At Home.
I say "we agreed", because that is what I thought happened; and I thought I was pressingdurham_rambler to get on with inviting his chosen guests. But I overheard him inviting someone with the assurance that I had conceded, so maybe he had been hoping for something larger. I admit I had been thinking of a number of people who could all sit down in comfortable chairs, with a wine glass each, who would turn up after lunch and go away before anyone started to think about dinner. As the date got closer, I began to suspect that durham_rambler had other ideas. Had we invented a new kind of surprise party, one that came as a surprise not to the birthday boy but to the (for want of a better word) housekeeping department?
Housekeeping is one of the reasons I've been less than usually present here over the last week or so. Neither of us is particularly houseproud at the best of times, and two years of lockdown has been two years of never having to tidy up for visitors. Now we were inviting people into our lair, including some who've never set foot in the house before...
Lots of pre-party nerves, then, followed by an afternoon of very enjoyable partying - sort-of-partying. People arrived, and accepted refreshment, and talked to each other. We didn't run out of drink - I wasn't worried about running out of wine (indeed, we now have more still white wine than we did to begin with) but I never know what to offer people who don't want alcohol (tea is popular). By and large people observed the no-presents rule, though M. stood on the doorstep, refusing to come in (because people at her evening class have been catching Covid) and proffering a triffid; it comes with hand-written instructions which claim that it thrives on neglect, and if this is true, it has come to the right place. On the other hand, the neighbour who tried to decline the invitation because he didn't think he could get his wheelchair past the threshhold entered without difficulty with the aid of a ramp (aka piece of board we knew would come in useful eventually).
durham_rambler had hoped that the last stragglers would stay for dinner, but no-one accepted the invitation - and indeed, as we feared, offering it was what finally brought the afternoon to a close. But that was fun, and I feel much braver about doing it - or something else - again.
durham_rambler's birthday - a significant one, which he had been saying for some time should not go unmarked. But saying it is one thing, doing something about it is quite another. Not to mention that the more the government talked about putting the pandemic behind us, the more I thought "Not ready!" So it was not until March was nearly upon us that we agreed that we would have, not a party exactly, but an afternoon on which we would inform a limited number of local friends that we were At Home.I say "we agreed", because that is what I thought happened; and I thought I was pressing
durham_rambler to get on with inviting his chosen guests. But I overheard him inviting someone with the assurance that I had conceded, so maybe he had been hoping for something larger. I admit I had been thinking of a number of people who could all sit down in comfortable chairs, with a wine glass each, who would turn up after lunch and go away before anyone started to think about dinner. As the date got closer, I began to suspect that durham_rambler had other ideas. Had we invented a new kind of surprise party, one that came as a surprise not to the birthday boy but to the (for want of a better word) housekeeping department?Housekeeping is one of the reasons I've been less than usually present here over the last week or so. Neither of us is particularly houseproud at the best of times, and two years of lockdown has been two years of never having to tidy up for visitors. Now we were inviting people into our lair, including some who've never set foot in the house before...
Lots of pre-party nerves, then, followed by an afternoon of very enjoyable partying - sort-of-partying. People arrived, and accepted refreshment, and talked to each other. We didn't run out of drink - I wasn't worried about running out of wine (indeed, we now have more still white wine than we did to begin with) but I never know what to offer people who don't want alcohol (tea is popular). By and large people observed the no-presents rule, though M. stood on the doorstep, refusing to come in (because people at her evening class have been catching Covid) and proffering a triffid; it comes with hand-written instructions which claim that it thrives on neglect, and if this is true, it has come to the right place. On the other hand, the neighbour who tried to decline the invitation because he didn't think he could get his wheelchair past the threshhold entered without difficulty with the aid of a ramp (aka piece of board we knew would come in useful eventually).
durham_rambler had hoped that the last stragglers would stay for dinner, but no-one accepted the invitation - and indeed, as we feared, offering it was what finally brought the afternoon to a close. But that was fun, and I feel much braver about doing it - or something else - again.
