Category: Friends and Family Events

Deni & Tony’s Wedding, 24 October 2015

This was our first experience of a gay wedding.

The venue was Chiswick Town Hall, but despite the proximity there was no time for a game of tennis before getting into our glad rags and allowing an hour to travel a couple of miles down the road.

Yes, we were there ludicrously early but that gave us the chance to get to meet some of the other guests.

The service was very pleasant. Toni Friend was there; son John kindly came to the town hall after the ceremony to take Toni (and us) to the house for the reception and wedding breakfast; I suppose walking a mile or so in “such shoes” is off limits.

The reception and wedding breakfast were both delightful. First time I have ever been to such an event in a house rather than a function room; it worked really well for this size of group. We met some very pleasant people and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

A link to the few pictures we took – here.

Canvey Island, Leigh-On-Sea, Westcliffe & Southend to See Garry & Janice Steel, 3 October 2015

Cousins Garry & Janice were very devoted visitors to mum over the years, especially given the distances involved, whereas I hadn’t been out their way (apart from the occasional funeral) for decades. Janie and I agreed that should change, so we arranged a short trip to the Essex Riviera.

Having enjoyed the movie, The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson – click here, so much, Janie was keen to see Canvey Island along the way.

Garry was not so sure:

Me finks (sic) you’ll be disappointed with Canvey. There may be nothing open after 5:30pm other than a few haunted bars. Brighton is a paradise in comparison. Don’t forget your passport.

Actually our plan was to get to Canvey by 15:00 and visit the Steels that afternoon for the guided tour of Leigh, both of which we did.

Canvey was more interesting than Garry suggested – the mural on the sea wall was a highlight, as was the sight of many locals taking the last remains of the summer sun on what turned out to be a glorious September afternoon.

The Leigh stroll with Garry and Janice was also interesting. I had never been down to Old Leigh before; it is really rather quaint and charming; probably more so for seafaring types than land-lubbers like me and Janie, but still good to see and a nice chance to catch up with Garry and Janice while strolling.

Then back to get our car and then Janie & I checked in to the Westcliffe Hotel – not bad. Later, Garry and Janice picked us up at the hotel and we walked down the road to the Piccolo Italian Restaurant, where they had celebrated their silver wedding anniversary some years ago.

The Steels very kindly insisted that the meal was on them, but I was able to persuade them that I’d like to sponsor a bottle of fine wine, spotting a Brunelli on the menu at (I realised having just been to a Mousse Wine tasting on that very subject) a very low price for such a vintage wine. The proprietor was very impressed that I recognised the wine and the good value – he’d been buying those in their infancy for years. “Game over now” (he told me ruefully).

A very enjoyable afternoon and evening with Garry and Janice.

In the morning, after breakfast and on our way out of town, we diverted a few hundred yards into Southend proper so I could take a look at the house where Jack, Sybil and Norman had lived up on that cliff. Smashing view – a more salubrious-looking property now.

Impromptu Housewarming After Tennis At Lisa Opie’s Place, 15 August 2015

Having learnt the previous week that Lisa’s new flat was more or less ready, we arranged to pop around and have a look after tennis on a Saturday morning.

It became a brief impromptu housewarming:

Bemused?
Gail’s Lemon Cake with flair
Celebration

I vaguely recall one of those Champagne flutes biting the dust, resulting in me and Janie getting Lisa another pair as an additional housewarming present.

Work Rest and Play described by Dumbo, King Cricket Report, 12 August 2015

My deal with King Cricket is basically that I write what I want, when I want. The reciprocal part of the deal is that he’ll publish what he wants (almost all of it) when he wants (perhaps months or years later).

So it is often a pleasant surprise when one of my older pieces pops up out of the blue, as this one did on 9 January 2017, to remind me what I was up to back on 12 August 2015 – click here to read the King Cricket piece.

Just in case anything ever happens to King Cricket, I have scraped the above page – to here.

Dumbo, my normally law-abiding Suzuki Jimny (although he does think that he is a horse) tells this tale.

Picture from one of Dumbo’s other adventures, on a day which did not go quite so well.

This piece was, for Dumbo, the conclusion of a small build (through several adventures) towards him getting inside Lord’s and actually seeing the ground.

…so the 12 August 2015 net visit evening proved most exciting for Dumbo, as he actually did make it into Lord’s – click here to go straight to the King Cricket piece.

One of the ironies of all this, of course, is that Dumbo has subsequently become a regular visitor to Lord’s Cricket Ground, when I visit Middlesex CCC for meetings and/or the real tennis court. On quieter days, Dumbo sometimes even gets to park with a view of the hallowed turf itself. On such days, I think I detect Dumbo getting quite dewey-windscreened.

Still, nothing a short blast of air conditioning can’t put right.

 

The Day I Didn’t Go To Cricket With Paul Deacon, I Watched TV For Several Hours Instead, 6 August 2015

It’s strange how we sometimes don’t connect two things that have happened. Or in this case, connect one thing that didn’t happen with another thing that did happen.

Stumbling across my diary entry for Thursday 6 August 2015, I see a line through the day (which means that I had booked a day’s leave) and then the following notes:

E v A @ Trent 1, Notts @ Lord’s, Paul Deacon.

Ah yes. Paul Deacon…

Visiting Record & Tape Exchange With Paul Deacon, 29 April 1978

…my old school pal who relocated to Canada with his family a few years ago now, was over for a few weeks. We had hatched a plan to meet at Lord’s that day. Paul enjoys a bit of cricket and “the girls” (Christine & Anya) liked the idea of some shopping in Central London during those hours.

Then we learnt that the threatened tube strikes for that day were indeed going ahead. We exchanged some notes the day before about trains and buses, but in the end the Deacons very sensibly decided to steer clear of Central London on a strike day.

In truth, I am not wild about 50 over cricket. Great as a day out with a friend, but I certainly didn’t feel motivated to trek to Lord’s on my tod to see that game. No.

And there was an Ashes Test match due to start the same day. So I decided instead that I’d stay home, get a bit ahead of myself with work and stuff. Oh, and of course keep at least half an eye on the test match.

So I plonked myself in front of the TV to watch the first ball of this match – click here.

This now famous utter routing of Australia became compelling viewing within 5 minutes and I basically didn’t move from the TV for a couple of hours until the lunch interval. That is not normal cricket viewing behaviour for me.

King Cricket had preambled the day’s play with a moan fest about Jimmy Anderson’s absence, which generated some rather interesting comments as the morning unfolded – click here.

King Cricket then attempted a reverse ferret on the day, rapidly reporting the event thus – click here.

Bert, one of King Cricket’s regular readers, correspondents and occasional reporter, provided an epic match report in the KC style, i.e. somehow managing to avoid mentioning the cricket – click here.

So, I had all that fun, instead of traipsing to Lord’s to see this match. If you can be bothered, I mean really don’t feel obliged, but you may, if you really want to see the scorecard, click here.

Thing is, though, from then until today (in December 2016) I had not once made the connection between my availability to see that extraordinary session of Ashes Test match history unfold and the earlier disappointment of having to abandon the proposed trip to Lord’s with Paul.

Therefore not once had I even thought to thank Paul for making his sensible decision to avoid Central London, thus allowing the day to unfold for me as it did.

Until now.

Thanks, Paul.

A Lunch At Gravetye Manor With DJ, Kim and Micky, Then Overnight 28 and 29 June 2015

Actually taken in 2014, but the blustery moment looks more like 2015 – thanks to Kim for the picture

After the great success of our lunch at Gravetye Manor last year, DJ asked us again for 2015.

We arranged to stay over on the Sunday night, driving down on the Sunday morning. I’m not sure whether we played tennis – I have a feeling we did play, early.

Once again it was a lovely lunch. The food is very good there. Such a relaxing place.

Somehow it didn’t quite have the magical atmosphere of the previous year, perhaps because we were doing the same thing for a second time, perhaps it was just the vibe of the place this time around.

One highlight of the afternoon was a package of photograph prints and a memory stick from Kim as a gift to Janie. The above picture is one of the hundreds of pictures from that stick; many of which will surely find their way onto the retrospective sections of Ogblog.

The weather wasn’t quite so special, the sun and the showers came and went with regularity. So rather than hanging around digesting our food in that large outhouse/arbour thing and the smaller, more outdoorsy chairs and arbours from the previous year, we relocated inside to a snug spot within the Manor itself for most of the afternoon, although the showers became less regular and passed through as the afternoon went on.

Before too long, DJ, Kima nd Micky all decided to go, so Janie and I sorted ourselves out in our room and then went outside to enjoy the now rather glorious early evening, playing some croquet and badminton on the lawn.

I also decided on a photo-opportunity for a King Cricket piece I was minded to write about our visit to the test match a month or so earlier.

 

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, the King Cricket crowd were much to clever for me and rumbled the set up photograph – as you can see from the comments on this link – I cannot imagine how or why they did that.

We drove back on the Monday in our tennis (lawners, not realers) gear, stopping off at Boston Manor for a hit. We also enjoyed the rest of our Monday off. Indeed, we did little work and had lots of fun that week, as you will see if you read on in sequence, not least the first couple of days in July.

Dinner At Amuse Bouche and Claude’s Kitchen, 5 June 2015

A Friday evening after work with Escamillo Escapillo and Lavender (Chris and Charlotte to the uninitiated).

For some reason, Daisy and Lavender had settled on a wine bar/restaurant in Parson’s Green – highly recommended no doubt and for good reason.

The wine bar goes by the name of Amuse Bouche, while the restaurant above is named Claude’s Kitchen. Both were really good.

We had some wine downstairs in the bar first of all. Busy but not so heaving that you couldn’t hear – helped by the open nature of the bar area on a warm light evening in June.

The restaurant had that shabby chic look of painted wooden tables and chairs – well spaced out though, so upstairs really was spot on for a get together and a chat. The food and wine was excellent.

We ran into Tina Ellis, formerly of Bodyworkswest/Lambton Place, there.  Of course I knew that she was a Parsonsgreenista, but still a surprise; a pleasant one I should add.

The young couple still lived in Bow in those days, so it was a relatively easy journey for all of us to get home from that place; not long after dark or possibly even before dark at that time of year.

Love the long summer evenings.

 

Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner, Café Rouge Holborn, 4 June 2015

A first time for the Ivan Shakespeare memorial dinner crowd at a new venue, which seems at the time of writing (January 2017) to be our gathering’s new home. John Random circulated us a couple of weeks before:

In response to popular request I have taken the decision to change the venue to the Cafe Rouge at 77 Kingsway.

I have explained the background to Ivan Shakespeare memorial dinners sufficiently elsewhere – e.g. click here and look at the second of the three events.

I don’t remember a great deal about this June 2015 gathering in particular. After the event John wrote:

I believe I speak for all when I say that the new venue (Cafe Rouge, Kingsway) was well-liked, so all being well, we’ll be going there again some time in the early autumn…

…I would also like to thank Gerry, Mark and Colin for their quizzes.

A three quiz evening. That’s big.

 

Youth Club Alumni Dinner at Bill’s in Covent Garden, 28 May 2015

Around this time the previous year, my old youth club (Streatham BBYO) gang gathered at Bill’s in Covent Garden. We had done nothing of the sort for well over thirty years, but was a great success.

Linda had taken the lead organising the 2014 gathering and then asked me to finalise the details at the end. This is how she kicked off negotiations, in March 2015:

Hi Everyone,
Thought it would be good to meet again as its been a year in May!
Last year we met on a Thursday in the school holidays so thought we could try that again, what do people think?
The date would be 28th May, if that is not good for the majority any suggestions are welcome!
Then Ian I can pass it to you if it becomes complicated ?
Linda xx

Strangely, it proved incredibly easy to organise. Everyone was comfy with the date and everyone agreed that the company was more important than scratching around for a different venue, so Bill’s got the nod again.

Natalie had to drop out at the last minute this time, sadly, but still we had me, Linda, Sandra, Mark, Andrea, Jacey, Liza, Wendy, Martin and even a visitation from Ivor.

The atmosphere was partly tinged with sadness that evening, as news of Jeffrey Spector’s passing was only a few days old that night. Still, Jeffrey wouldn’t have wanted us to mope and nor did we.

Ivor told us all about his Hollywood movie prospects while Martin showed us the photographs he took at our infamous “fashion show” back in 1979 (I didn’t realise colour photography had been invented back then). Details of both of those interludes shall remain under wraps for the time being.

Again it was lovely to see everybody and again it seemed impossible that so many years had passed and that most of us had felt disinclined to meet up like this for such a long time.

After two such gatherings, it seemed inevitable that there would be more get togethers…as indeed there have been.

Party at Kim & Micky’s House, 26 April 2015

Janie and I know what Kim & Micky’s parties can be like, so we hadn’t arranged anything for the Saturday evening and had arranged to take the Monday off.

This was a relatively small gathering by their standards, Sunday during the day, in honour of Kim’s birthday.

The usual suspects were there, plus some of the less usual suspects and of course Kim’s menagerie.

Imagine a smaller version of Never The Bride (shown above at Milton Keynes) performing in a conservatory

It was the first time I had seen Never The Bride, who Kim arranged to perform in the conservatory. In truth Kim’s conservatory is a bit small for the Never The Bride sound, even when the group turns up with just a core of performers and keeps the amplifier’s volume dial well below eleven.

Still, Never The Bride were very good and got everyone at the party singing along by hand picking the sorts of songs that most people of a certain age know well enough to sing along to.

Janie might remember more about the party than I do. We left relatively early in the evening, having been there since lunchtime, but I think a few people stuck around until very late by all accounts.

Not only did we take the next day off (pretty sure we played tennis and used the time pretty well) but we also had nothing arranged for the following weekend either.

I think that was more to do with having left dates clear for our impending Ireland trip than a need for a week or more’s clearance after Kim’s party. Perhaps a bit of both.

Whatever the reason, the next non-work thing in my diary is our visit to Lord’s on the Bank Holiday Monday, just before we set off for Ireland.