The landmark birthday party lasted a few hours and was typically English.
For those of you who don’t know what that means,
dancing happens –
immediately!
Even in private homes.
Furniture is scooted to the walls, carpets are rolled up,
music is turned to full volume and in an instant a small, crammed,
disco materialises!
At the Marlow Rowing Club the tables had been placed around the walls and a dance floor was already in evidence so all we needed was
music, lights and voila!
The most remarkable thing for me, the American who goes to plenty of parties but no ‘roll up the rug and let’s dance’ parties, was that everyone danced exactly the way they had danced in their teens and early twenties! Only they were in their sixties and early seventies!
Probably the age appropriate music triggered muscle memory and the years somehow melted away and we were all young things again ready to take on the world! Or maybe the English, who live in England, just carry on dancing…it was heady stuff albeit a little awkward in the beginning!
The partiers consisted of our hostess’s work colleagues, members of her choir, friends from her exercise class and a few of us from school.
The five of us had brought our husbands who hit it off so well that we considered inviting them to one of our future get togethers; they were so good!
The spread was varied, ranging from onion bargees to chips (French fries) liberally sprinkled with crisps (chips) for good measure, scotch eggs and slabs of poached salmon, curried chicken baps and thick slices of ham and rounding it off were various salads and dips; my plate was piled high by the time I’d taken a little of this and a scoop of that.
Everything was scrumptious and went well with a glass of red wine and plenty of good company.
And of course there was the obligatory cake with candles and sparklers and balloons…and the song! Who’s ever too old for that?!
As the flashing lights lit up the makeshift disco and the temperature rose inside a few of us drifted to the veranda to enjoy the breeze with the view across the river and imagine the sun sinking slowly behind the clouds as darkness fell.
A thoroughly good time was had by all and was the perfect start to what turned out to be one of the busiest stays in England since our teenage toting days!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
