…with their Saffron Walden telephone number. Nothing on the e-mail about it.
So I think this must have been the occasion we went to their house in Saffron Walden for dinner, probably the first time, without arranging to stay anywhere.
I think Janie volunteered to drive home but afterwards said that she was through with night driving on unfamiliar country roads – don’t blame her – so we have always made an overnighter of it since.
On arrival, I seem to recall that we got a guided tour of the estate, several elements of which I seem to recall were still up for debate at that time – e.g. where would John locate his drum kit and where would Mandy locate her professional practice room.
This was a very enjoyable family meal with the girls there as well (perhaps Lydia only joined us later in the evening, or perhaps I am now confusing two such evenings). For sure John cooked a blinder (he always does), I suspect it was loosely based on Indian cuisine but not too hot and spicy as he knows that Janie only enjoys spices if the food is not too hot.
John might remember the exact details of the meal; if so, with a bit of luck, he might be persuaded to chime in with a comment to flesh out the delicious details.
Our regular bridge four had rather fallen into decline at this time. Gavin decided he was too busy running Charing Cross Hospital or something…
…and we struggled to find a fourth.
Then, in early February, I wrote to Andrea:
It was good to speak the other evening, Andrea. We discussed a possible bridge. I have a fourth person “quasi-lined-up”, although without dates of course. I propose mine as the venue on that basis.
Andrea replied:
Good to speak to you too, Ian & thanks for finding a 4th – gather his name is Quasi!
Strangely, though, Barmy Kev really can play bridge. No, I don’t mean, “is someone who has more or less picked up the rules of the game of bridge and is therefore marginally more effective at the game than plankton”…
…I mean “Barmy Kev can REALLY play bridge”, in that it was almost embarrassing to have someone who can play at his level grace the kitchen table of people who play at our level.
Still, Kev likes good food, good wine and good company and my regular group could do all that as well as the best of ’em, so this arrangement proved to be more than a one off. I’m not sure that it was a “more than the fingers of one hand” off, but it was not a one off.
Maz, who I guess is now really quite good herself as she was keen to progress beyond our kitchen table stuff, chimed in afterwards to say:
…thanks so much for great evening last night – food and bridge was great. Good that Kev is so good.
I get the impression that I didn’t play so well. Message from Kev:
I would like to thank you for your hospitality last night. The food , drink, company was excellent. The Bridge-well you can’t have everything. Anyway, all good fun and would definitely be up for next one.
My reply to Kev:
It was good to see you. I didn’t think your bridge was that special last night – rust and vino veritas don’t mix it seems! My bridge I thought was exemplary.
Andrea’s thank you note, read so many years later (January 2019) made me chortle:
Just wanted to thank you for a really lovely time the other night. Great to see you, fab food, wonderful company and bridge wasn’t bad, either. Just one Q – when looking for a new bridge partner, was your criteria to find someone who is the complete opposite to Gavin in every conceivable way??
Note to Kev: Andrea unquestionably meant that kindly. It’s just that you REALLY aren’t like Gavin, in any conceivable way.
On the field of play, Gavin would have worn whites, not pinks, for a start
We returned from our trip to Barcelona, Northern Spain and Rioja a few days before Easter, having pre-arranged a small gathering for Easter Sunday. It seemed only polite to bring some amazing Iberico ham back with us, together with our new-found Rioja expertise.
Add to that some of those Lindt Easter Bunnies, without which it simply wouldn’t be Easter…and good friends of course…the result was a good fun gathering.
This short break visiting several places in Spain emerged from a very simple idea; that it would nice to visit nephew Paul while he was temporarily living and working in Barcelona; a good excuse also to “take that town”.
…and our desire to see the Guggenheim in Bilbao…and we’d heard that Santander is nice…and also those wonderful reports we’d read about Rioja and the new boutique hotel and the Marquis de Riscal winery…
…the result was an out of character 10 day whistle-stop break. We wouldn’t do it at that pace any more, but we had a great time and there will be plenty of good individual pieces to dredge out from my trusty journal notes and brain, when I get around to it. Download/try to read my scrawl if you dare.
On 15 March, we went to the Guggenheim in Bilbao before setting off for Santander. We saw an excellent surrealism exhibition and more besides (programme retained). We took some good pictures of outdoor exhibits too.
Indeed we took a lot of photos for a 10 day break in Europe, divided into three mini Flickr albums
On the Wednesday evening I went to the Charity Finance Directors Group (CFDG) 20th anniversary reception at St Paul’s Cathedral. Quite grand it was, but I cannot find the details of the event other than those stated. I think Phil Hope MP might have said some well-chosen words at that event and no doubt wine flowed and nibbles went down.
The next day was an Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. John Random organised thus:
I have consulted the entrails of a sheep and the signs tell me that February 28th is a good time for the next meal at the Cafe Rouge. Can I have a show of electronic hands please? Who can make it? Who can’t?
I replied thusly:
I similarly consulted sheep’s entrails, and all that told me was that I needed to wash my hands pdq. But the entrails also said “see you 28 February”, which I find a little worrying. I think I might stick to fish or vedge that night just in case.
Unfortunately, John’s roundup from that particular gathering was quite generic:
Just a quick thank you to all those who came out on Thursday night to the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. Those of you who weren’t there were much missed. I’ll send out the quizzes if you want me to, though.
Another one where the details are lost in the mists of time.
I said the mists of time, not the mists of Tokyo. Gratuitous eye candy, this is.
Janie is a very good-hearted sort, as evidenced by her diary entries for this afternoon – listing a whole load of stuff to take over to my mum’s house that afternoon for our “half-holiday” and evening with mum. A busman’s half-holiday in Janie’s case, with chiropody equipment and massage oils listed.
In short, Janie will have given a great deal of care and attention to mum’s feet and shanks when we visited her at Woodfield Avenue that afternoon, ahead of dinner at Newton’s in Clapham.
Newton’s had been recommended by John and Lily Hogan, who were keen on that place. To be fair, it had good reviews back then and writing more than 10 years later (January 2019), although renamed 33 Abbeville now, still seems to be well regarded by the locals.
We were also attracted to the place by the offering of slow-cooked lamb shanks; a dish we all like(d) and don’t often see on modern restaurant menus.
Unfortunately, the care and attention that Janie gave to my mother’s feet and shanks did not appear to be replicated in those served to us at Newton’s. Our guess is that the shanks we were served had not been cooked for anything like long enough, making the central purpose of our visit more than a little disappointing.
At that stage of her life, mum found it difficult to keep her disappointment to herself…
…and at that stage of long, hard-working weeks, Janie and I were not in the very best of moods for awkwardness either, so I don’t think the visit ended quite as well as it should have done.
We did not return to Newton’s to ascertain whether our poor meal there was a one-off problem – quite possibly it was but we were none of us “second chance” types for restaurants – especially mum.
This picture actually four year’s later at Noddyland, taken by Kim or Janie
We wanted to visit Charlie in Cambridge before she finished her law degree at Girton. January of her final year was leaving it almost as late as would be feasible. We had a pretty full itinerary of short trips March/April and Charlie had finals to start thinking about.
We booked the Felix for the last weekend of January, went and had a good time.
We had a wander around Cambridge on the Saturday and saw some interesting things, the most memorable of which was the Pepys Library. We went with Charlie and some of her friends to a comedy show after dinner on Saturday. Sub-Footlights, had its moments. But for some reason no photos from those bits. Oh well.
We had a relatively quiet start to 2008, with everything that went on towards the end of 2007, we’d booked little at the start of 2008.
5 January
A gathering at Kitt & Julia’s place in Sandall Close. A good chance to socialise a little with neighbours etc.
9 January
I went to Aidrienne Da Donka’s funeral that day. The Da Donka’s lived next door in Woodfield Avenue. If I recall correctly mum couldn’t face it, being so close to dad’s passing and at the same location, so I moved my (copious) work around and represented the family at that funeral. This was the first of what seemed (to me) an unlikely number of such funerals within 12-18 months or so of dad’s passing.
12 January
Dinner at Amaya with Kim & Micky. Top notch Indian grub. Looks as though we stayed at my flat afterwards. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t much remember this evening…
…but strangely Daisy remembers lots about it. She even remembers eating “zip-up lamb”. Crumbs – that’s some memory in January 2019 from someone who claims to have almost no memory.
We do both remember the evening being a success though as everyone enjoyed their grub as well as the company.
Janie and I had Hilary & Chris for dinner at Sandall Close. No doubt they had come up to drop & collect Christmas presents etc. No doubt they stayed and no doubt they disappeared early the next morning when Janie and I went off to play tennis.
19 December
Mansion House. Michael Mainelli had persuaded the City of London Corporation & the Lord Mayor to host a London Accord launch at the Mansion House. This felt like a big deal for Z/Yen at the time. So much so that I bought a stack of copies of The Diary Of A Nobody as the staff’s Secret Santa stocking filler that year, pointing them to the Mansion House chapter/thread in the book.
Any resemblance between Ogblog and The Diary Of A Nobody is purely coincidental.
Back down to earth at Cafe Rouge in Maida Vale for the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner, including the seasonal Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy quiz.
John Random helpfully reported back after the event:
Many thanks to all those who came out to the… I dunno.. the 28th? Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. (We seem to have settled into a pattern of four a year and we’ve been doing this for 7 years now, so 28 sounds about right.) The occasion was graced by Jasmine Birtles, Caroline Bainbridge, Gerry Goddin, Barry Grossman, Mark Keegan, Colin Stutt, Nick R. Thomas, Ian Harris, Mike Hodd and myself. There were three quizzes. Barry retained the trophy.
For those struggling to imagine what this magnificent trophy might look like – here is a subsequent picture of it (with legends for some subsequent winners):
Saturday 1 December we had the Jams over for dinner at Sandall Close. Kim, Micky & DJ came. No doubt it was a good one.
Friday 7 December we went to Michael and Pam’s for dinner. Mum joined us there. I suppose they were sensitive to the season and the fact that dad had passed away a few months earlier. It was kind of them to do that; I don’t suppose it was much of a fun evening for any of us in the circumstances.
Saturday 8 December we went to Claudia & Richard’s house in Totteridge for dinner. Anthea and Mitchell were there. The hospitality was lavish and the company very enjoyable that evening. It looks as though we got a cab because Janie’s diary is replete with cab booking notes.
