Some months ago, our friend Chris invited us to lunch at her place on Sunday 20th January. It was her 70th birthday on the Monday and she intended to have a few friends round to lunch. Mostly former work colleagues. Jim and I, plus Irene and Gillie all accepted. I put the date on the old calendar, then transferred it to the new calendar when it arrived.
A few weeks ago I got an email from Chris' daughter. She and her father had been planning a surprise party for her, on the day we were supposed to be going to lunch. I think there were to be about 12 guests at the lunch. We were all informed about the change of plan and requested not to say anything.
An invitation arrived in the post. Chris still didn't know anything.
I pondered how she would be stopped buying all the stuff for her lunch party. I would have been planning for weeks for such an event and would have all the non-perishable stuff in place. I would have had the perishables in place by Friday or Saturday. Chris, it seemed, did have much of the stuff ready but had been persuaded not to buy all the perishables earlier.
The party was in the Rainforest Room at the zoo. So Jim and I commandeered the flat for the weekend and made our way to the zoo on the tram. I think there were about 50 people, all up. Chris was told on Sunday morning that her lunch party would be going ahead, but not at her place. No cooking for her. Her guests would meet her at the new venue. (She had been wondering why I hadn't said what train we would be on so John could pick us up at the station - I had worked out the tram times instead :-D )
I think Chris was surprised when she walked in to the Rainforest Room and found us all there waiting for her. I do so hope they were tears of joy and not tears of rage! She had, after all, spent quite a lot of time making quail egg Scotch eggs. Not difficult, as such, but very fiddly to assemble
It was a lovely party. There were many people that I had once worked with, plus people that I had heard about but not previously met. Chris, obviously, knew everyone there, but I think there were people that she hadn't seen for some time. There was lots of wine and the food was delicious (I particularly enjoyed my snapper with ginger and a honey dressing. I do like a nice piece of snapper). Jim had a good time. He enjoys having new people to talk to. We had a delicious chocolate cake for the birthday cake and a bit more chatter with old and new friends.
And then we went back to the flat on a tram. No dinner for us on Sunday evening!
Chris' husband John and daughter Megan had obviously worked very hard on organising the surprise party - plus almost as hard getting the house and garden ready for the lunch party that didn't happen at home. Absolutely worth it. It was a memorable 70th birthday celebration.
And now Jim and I are getting ready to head back home. Just waiting for the Back-to-Work-on-Monday-after-the-Summer-Holiday traffic to disperse before we hit the roads. I'm not sure why the radio people have declared the summer to be over. Schools in Victoria don't go back until later next week, plus there is still another month of official summer to go. The weather in March is often beautiful and quite summery. Seems a bit hasty to be asking what people "did" over the summer. I still have summery plans. I guess, though, that the radio stations have their regular presenters back after their Christmas and January break. Normal transmission has resumed.
And I will be back in Melbourne as normal tomorrow, leaving Jim in the charge of Rupert and Hugo.
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