Spring Bank Holiday

I think there will be twenty-four of us for lunch on Saturday.  I’m keeping it simple, darlings, with a cold meal on the lines of last year’s.  The forecast is for a warm day, so let’s hope that doesn’t change.  I’ve laid the tables (I know it’s early but I’m excited), written a shopping list, put  wine in the fridge or in the dining room, counted out glasses and decided against paper napkins.  I’d been going to but – well, I found that, even not having ironed any for months, I still had a double dozen double damask dinner napkins in the linen chest.  That means I have as many upstairs in the ironing basket.  So the job will be worth doing in due course, innit?

Few would suggest I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and, if anything, I’m more chilled about things than I used to be.  At one time, I felt uncomfortable if a picture were hung crooked – on the huh, as we say in Norfolk – but now I notice it and don’t much care.  However, I do realise I have something of an obsession: that I feel the need to be able to feed thirty or so people at a moment’s notice.  That doesn’t just mean food, I have to have the plates, cutlery and glasses too.  With all the decluttering I’m doing, I am aware that the problem will come when I get to the kitchen.  Yes, I know one can hire.  I need to have them.  I also need plenty of serving dishes and cooking utensils of all sizes.

Having said I’ll run the bookstall at the village festival, I’m going to start putting surplus books in boxes.  It’ll be interesting to find out how hard I’ll find that.  I suspect that the first few hundred will be the easy ones.

While I was pottering back and forth, getting cutlery and so on to lay the tables, I was listening to the Norwich match at Wembley.  It wasn’t a Cup Final or anything, just the play-off to try to win promotion to the Premier League.  As I mentioned the other day, I have friends who were there – actually, loads of people I know were there, there has been great excitement and support.  Norwich scored twice, almost immediately (within the first fifteen minutes, anyway) and held that lead to the end.  So that’s good.  Unless you support Middlesborough, of course.

Having scrubbed the outdoor table for our barbecue last weekend, I was rather dismayed when I got home to discover that Wince had put it back under the tree at the edge of the lawn again.  Lawrence and Roses have kindly carried it back for me, but it’s covered with bird shit again, as are the chairs.  I’m not at all happy about it and am not going to clean it until Wince comes again so that he’ll see why I really don’t want it there.  I wasn’t thrilled when he put it there in the first place but, as it had been on the lawn where he wanted to mow, I could at least see why.  But it was on the paving where it’s meant to be.

Lawrence and Roses have kindly asked me to join them for dinner, which is lovely.  I hadn’t shopped and was going to have eggs.  Eggs will feature in the lunch menu on Saturday, I presently have over three dozen and more are being laid every day.  I expect more are laid than I see, I let the chooks out every day unless the weather is poor and I’m sure some of them lay away.  Just so long as one of them doesn’t sneak away and sit, so that I have a clutch of babies to look after.

4 comments on “Spring Bank Holiday

  1. Liz

    Laying the tables nearly a week before the party; now that’s what I call organised.

    I’ve just spent a lovely half-hour catching up with your blog. I have no idea how I have missed so many of your posts, I was only away for 2 days!

    See you Saturday.

    Reply
  2. Mike Horner

    Hello John. This is Suffolk, remember – our weather is quite unpredictable; and anyway, it doesn’t matter – if it rains, it’s a lovely old house to sit around in, renew acquaintances and make new ones. We’re looking forward to it.

    Reply
  3. Z Post author

    I keep getting behind with blogs, but it’s then nice to catch up.

    There’s plenty of room in the house and I’ll never again make the mistake of banking on a barbecue and then having to cook everything indoors. It’ll be fine.

    I’m looking forward to it too.

    Reply

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