Friends and Family Events – Page 45

A Somewhat Eventful Party At Woodfield Avenue, 6 to 7 October 1979

Somewhat eventful to say the least.

Another holiday without me for my parents…another opportunity for me to hold a house party.

I particularly like the way I describe this party, with all due modesty, in my diary entry for 6 October:

Party v good/described as best ever by some…despite disasters.

I’m not sure that my parents’ house has ever recovered from the “despite disasters” aspect of it.

The disasters were probably due to intense overcrowding. Not only had I been pretty open-ended with my invitations – BBYO club folk descended from the length and breadth of the country – but the party was also quite heavily gatecrashed.

This photo from Easter Weekend 1979 – several of the above were at the October party…none of these were the gatecrashers.

I shall seek counsel from others on some of the details. Also on the extent to which, for some aspects of the evening, names and details should ever find their way to as public a place as Ogblog.

But for the time being here are some fragmentary memories of mine.

It looks from the diary as though Fran helped me to set the party up but didn’t stick around for the party, which was jolly decent of her and/but she must have had something much, much better to do on the Saturday night. I have a feeling that she might have just started/been starting University around then. Fran might remember and chime in with a memory. Anyway, many thanks for the help that day, Fran.

Then the party itself.

For some reason (overcrowding alone shouldn’t have caused this) we had a power failure for a while. No lights, no music…just…whatever a party might be in the absence of those things.

Someone who knew what they were doing (at least to the extent needed to restore light and music to the party) sorted out the problem, but I do recall at one point several people going round with candles, not least Simon Jacobs rattling off quips at a rate of about 16 qpm.

Simon could rap at 20 quips per minute if he wanted to…he just didn’t want to.

One of the gatecrashers broke the frame of my father’s family mosaic piece – depicting us as clowns standing on each other’s shoulders. Mercifully it wasn’t beyond repair. I seem to recall that incident triggering some of the more protective (or perhaps I should say bellicose) guests to take matters into their hands and remove several gatecrashers.

Someone will no doubt be able to explain why the following picture of Jay, one of the welcome guests (like the Simon photo above, taken a few months earlier) popped into my head as I recalled the gatecrashers’ comeuppance.

I think there were times during the party when I needed some consoling. I realised what a mess the place was in. But this was not a good party for host romance, although I’m sure it worked well for many guests; not least during the blackout.

One consolation in the damage aspect was the fact that the house had been burgled the day after my parents went away, so it was going to be difficult for them to distinguish burglar damage from party damage.

7 October 1979

…well of course several of the events mentioned/alluded to above might well have been the early hours of 7th…

many stayed, helped clear up. I finished the job…

I’m not sure who Paul S was that Sunday evening (apologies, Paul, if/when your identity comes to light), but the Jeff S who stayed at the house after the meeting was the late lamented Jeff Spector. No doubt he was able to advise me well on dealing with the aftermath of crowded house parties – they had quite a few of those at the Spector house over the years. But those are other memories for other pieces.

Mauritius, July & August 1979, Overview, Summary and Picture Links

I spent several weeks of the summer of 1979 in Mauritius, with my good school friend Anil Biltoo and his dad, staying with many branches of their interesting family.

I want to write quite a lot about this trip, as it was the most amazing experience for a 16/17 year old youngster. It was hugely formative for me in many ways, not least sparking my lifelong interest in travel and cultures other than my own.

This posting is a quick summary and overview piece, linking to artefacts already available on-line:

the photographs I took on that trip, which were transparencies but are all scanned and available here on Flickr for all to see;

a standard 8 cine film I took in Mauritius – the only holiday movie I made myself in my youth. Nowhere near dad’s high standards, but you get a feel and there are some good bits. For the Youtube, linked here, I have added the sound of sega (Mauritian dance music) records I bought while I was there and which still evoke the memories whenever I hear them.

All of the letters I wrote home while I was there, which doubled up as my diary/travelogue, have now been scanned, uploaded and transcribed as Ogblog entries. They make fascinating reading for me and I hope are providing interesting reading for others.

The first letter and transcription can be found through this link or below – you can work forward from this one:

First Letter From Mauritius, 16 July 1979

A transcription of my diary entry from the last day – which was a day full of gatherings and parties – can be found here and below – you could work backwards from this one:

Several Farewell Parties, Palmar, Belle Mare & Rose Hill, Mauritius, 17 August 1979

I also want to write up a few additional stories and thoughts with the benefit of hindsight, including some memories that have been triggered by going through these documents relating to matters undocumented in them.

Postscript

I have subsequently (autumn 2019) Ogblogged my journal and recollections from this whole trip, so the above links can get you started on the whole lot, if you wish to read them.

Mauritius, Music During Our Visit July/August 1979

Music in Mauritius is currently described thus in Wikipedia.

While we were there, one might have been forgiven for thinking that sega was the only local style. Wikipedia specifically describes sega thus. Indeed, one might have been forgiven for thinking that Cousin Cousine by Joss Henri was more or less the only record in the charts.

Years later, I recall a very funny sketch by Barry Grossman at NewsRevue about the Tudor charts, the punchline of which was that Greensleeves was the number one for the 2,157th (or some such) week running. That sketch always reminded me of my trip to Mauritius and Cousin Cousine, which had been number one for as long as anyone could remember while when we arrived and was still number one when we left.

Of course, the whole idea of Cousin Cousine was very suitable for Anil, who was basically on a voyage around the island visiting a myriad of cousins (and cousines) he had not met before, so I’m sure that song must conjure up our trip in his mind as well as mine.

I have found this YouTube, which shows some good photos of people dancing the sega to the sound of Cousin Cousine, recorded pretty well.

I did buy three other records as well as Cousin Cousine, all of which can be heard on the soundtrack to the standard 8 movie from our trip to Mauritus, which I put up on YouTube.

Here is an instructional YouTube video on how to do the modern zumba version of the sega dance. Don’t try this on a full stomach.

While here is a UNESCO YouTube explaining the history, look and sound of it all in educational terms, complete with soporific schoolteacher voice to minimise the chance of you watching this video through to the end.

Suffice it to say, we had some fun listening to and dancing sega while we were in Mauritius in 1979.

Remaining Journal From Mauritius, 12 to 17 August 1979

A very brief background to this travel adventure is covered in the overview posting linked here, which contains links to photos and cine.

I wrote letters to mum and dad which doubled as my diary/travelogue. By 10 August, it was clear that I’d arrive home before the letters, so I concluded my journal using scrappy note paper. Here’s a scan of the four pages that remain.

I should point out, to completists in search of my diary entries for 10th and 11th August, that it seems those have got lost. I know that, on 10th August, I did track down the Jewish businessman in Port Louis whom I had sought in vain on 9th. I strongly suspect that my notes for 10th and 11th August were stored with the article I wrote about my 10th August encounter, which, sadly, my mother threw out with other items of my juvenilia which she decided I couldn’t possibly wish to keep. No, I am not over it.