Weekend adventures, part 2

Having stiffened up my resolve and changed into a fresh set of party togs I skipped up to Earls Court for the rest of the weekend. The theme of the weekend seems to be relative strangers so I'd be going to a birthday party of someone I'd never met with a good friend.

The party was in Oxfordshire so I was bundled into a car (again mostly filled with people I didn't know) and we set off. The drive was good fun - we listened to music and managed to completely avoid getting lost even though the directions were vague (the arrow on the map pointed to nothing).

It was a very well equipped bash, there was a huge tent for everyone to dance inside filled with a plethora of booze, a chequered dance floor and the loudest sound system I've ever encountered outside of a festival. There was a hog roast but I wasn't really in any sort of state to eat that much.

Everyone was in fancy dress, superheros were a fairly popular look but thankfully there was only one of each hero - I was the only super hero without foam in his costume to make him seem more manly. Modern men eh?

The most popular costume, especially for couples was Top Gun, which I've never really considered before but it's a good one. Interestingly the couples were a few variations on Top Gun theme, so it wasn't just the main characters appearing.

I had an excellent time as Spiderman, although I did get caught in the heavy rain at about 2am having a duel with party poppers and got completely soaked. I changed into 'normal' clothes rather than spend the rest of the evening squelching about damply.

Everyone else at the party had done the same thing already so I just got stuck into the serious business of dancing with someone dressed as the lady from The Birds and drinking far too many cocktails.

Some time rather early, I think at about 4am I found myself in a tent and fell asleep to the soft lullaby of pounding dance music. I can sleep almost anywhere, and was exhausted anyway so it didn't bother me but I can imagine that people who aren't so trained in napping might have issues.

I woke up again at about 11am to find the party still going strong (the music had of course not stopped) and got to witness some early morning croquet while people sipped bitter and listened to grinding hardcore music. The music made the whole scene seem a bit wrong really.

After a few cups of tea it was time to set off but the chap who had driven us up managed to 'clong' his car on a rock and it was bit broken and leaking oil everywhere. So we had to hang around while we waited for the rescue services to appear and give us a lift home, by this point everyone was so tired that conversation was a struggle and when I finally made it home I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

It was quite an adventure and I really enjoyed it but it was definitely time for an early night.

The View from the vale

I've managed to find one of the cables I was looking for so I can plug my camera phone into my computer. This means I can share photos with ease now but I'd still like to know where that other pesky cable is hiding.

Anyway, here are some photos of my grandmother's house for those readers who enjoy looking at almost sickeningly twee places. This photo was taken from the front garden which is mostly used for games of croquet and playing 'What's the time Mr Wolf?'.

The house has good gardens for playing all sorts of games that involve chasing cousins around or hide and seek and there is a pond on the other side of the house where whole generations of newts have been closely examined by family members over the years.


When you go in the main door you will notice the stick basket. Inside are a collection of mallets, shooting sticks and various other paraphinala. Most of the walking sticks are fairly pockmarked as they have been used as they have been involved in more than a few pirate style battles and rescues of princesses.

There is an archaic pair of wooden tennis racquets for use in the tennis court. The courts are grass ones and are played on perhaps three or four times a year. They used to be played on even less because my grandfather decided that around the tennis courts would be an excellent place to put some bee hives so any balls going out of play would result in an army of angry bees joining in the fun. The hives are gone now , but tennis always plays second fiddle to bothering newts.

This is a picture from the small drawing room that leads off the kitchen. I always liked this room when I was small because it was where you went to draw pictures of dragons and play with glue while still being comfortingly close to the adults talking in the kitchen. The Piano was only for accomplished players, amateurs were made to play the less good piano that lived in the barn. The barn isn't actually used for any farming related things, it's for having parties in and running around whooping. It's also full of cobwebs and scary pictures so it's excellent for making yourself scared on halloween.

The bear brings back lots of fond memories for me, it is a ride on bear with a cable you can pull to cause it to make bear noises. This pre-dates computer chips, and it looks like it pre-dates the British Empire. it's so old so I have no idea what produces the strange 'Wrough' noise it makes, it's probably some special device made out of ivory and panda hearts.

For some reason all the books in this room are French. I'm not sure why you would put only French books in a room where young types are allowed to play around with scissors and pens but there you go.

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this little tour down memory lane and into Dorset.