Norfolk Weekend

Posted: Mon 27 June, 2005 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, General, Thoughts |1 Comment »

Well, after the amazing joys of the train journey, the weekend carried on in a similar vein.

The main event/reason for going was for a joint housewarming and “decade in business” party for Herself’s Sister and Husband. Yup, the Outlaws. And bloody good it was, too. On Friday there’d been a bit of pessimism swanning around, as it was raining, and obviously if you’re having a party in a garden, you don’t want it looking like Glastonbury. But as it turned out, while most of the day was cloudy, and there was a bit of rain in the morning, there was nothing from about 1pm, and it was a great day. Besides, if it had been as hot as the rest of the week we’d have had people basting in their own skins, and that’s no fun either.

So, Saturday dawned bright and sunny cloudy and grey, and while setting up tables and so on, the first revelation occurred…

You’re the one who writes d4d™, aren’t you?
(cue “Rabbit in the Headlights” expression) Um, yeah…
Oh, it’s great. We all read it every day. It’s dead popular in the Norfolk NHS

So there we go – second “sit down in shock” moment of the day – people actually read this guff? Yeesh. And now I’ve met some of them. Eeek. I have an audience.

Still reeling a bit from that one, another discussion comes about.

Outlaw : You did know you’re doing all the barbecue stuff, didn’t you?
Um, no, that information must’ve somehow passed me by…
Have you ever done one before?
Nope. So that’ll be a learning experience then…

Yes, I can’t deny, I was more than a little bit stressed (for which read “bloody orbital”) as H-Hour came around. One barbecue was fine, all gas-fired, electronic ignition, the lot – that’s great. The other one (for vegetarian food only) was – shall we say – a bit more tempramental, in that the bloody thing developed a dislike for my eyebrows, and tried removing them every time I lit the sodding thing all weekend. And the organisation of my bit was initially a bit chaotic. But it all worked out OK. I managed to cook sausages that were (just about) discernible from the charcoal briquettes around them. Not brilliant, but not bad for a first go. Hell, people ate them, and didn’t collapse vomiting afterwards. For me, that was a success.

The afternoon part of the party – the “business” section – went really smoothly, and was damn good. Lots of food, lots of punch (drink, not fighting) and a good time was had by all. Herself was knockout, doing all the food, and a shedload of washing-up (glasses and the like), and all ran well.

The evening was always going to be more alcoholic. God knows how much everyone got through, but I think it comes under “not enough” as there was still drink left at the end of the night. But it was good – and we weren’t even disturbed too much by the hippies up the road having their “Summer Solstice” party a mere four days late. Still, who the hell’s ever heard of a punctual hippie? Just because they celebrate calendar festivals doesn’t mean they can tell the time.

Throughout the day there were performances by a local band, who were bloody good. Apparently it was their first “public” performance, not that you’d have been able to tell. Perhaps the only giveaway was that the repertoire was still pretty small. (and yes, Jellifish, I know you’ll be reading this – even if you weren’t, I’d still say the same!) It all went really smoothly, and everyone had a good time before we eventually collapsed at about 1am.

Sunday involved clearing up, which actually wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. I was awake by 8am, and got a load done before anyone else was awake, which made life easier. Sometimes clearing up is best done by two or three motivated people rather than ten or twelve “Oh God, do we have to?” merchants.

Breakfast was done on the barbecue again, and this time hardly anything got burnt. But it was chuffin’ good – even the fried eggs seemed to cook properly. Hell, I have a hard time doing that on a proper cooker for the most part, let alone on a sodding barbecue! So all went well, and after a large sit-down with the remaining people, we drove off into the sunset* having had a bloody fantastic weekend.

* artistic licence. Live with it.

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