Of firebaskets and men in rugby shorts
Our house is now well and truly warmed. My birthday was rather un-birthday-like, as the postman is holding all my cards to ransom "clearing the backlog caused by the strike" (Yeh right - I KNOW my parents and grandparents sent cards about 10 days ago, so should be in the first received first delivered catagory, and there's still no sign so far.)
However, the housewarming more than made up for it.
My little sister came up at lunchtime and took me out to Portabello on South Parade, and then came shopping with us. (Our friend Henry had stayed overnight on Friday, and he has a car, so he took us to a big supermarket) But we also went on a mini-adventure to find a garden centre, as Lenny had taken a fancy to a cheap brazier that he had seen in one of those random put-through-the-letter-box pamphlets. Henry persuaded us all that getting one was a superb idea, and since he drove us there we were able to take it home with no problems.
We got home just in time to greet the lovely Miss
obnoxious_muso, who had bravely trekked from London and just about managed not to get lost!
The firebasket, as the box proudly called it, was on the whole a success. Early on in the evening we toasted marshmallows over it, before my housemate's pyromaniac proclivities took over and he added the biggest logs he could find, as well as some coal from a little outhouse store.
It was still hot on Sunday evening, and still vaguely warm by Monday, which rather proved my point about the wood being unnecessary, but since he swept up all the ash last night, I shan't be complaining too much, just hiding all the big wood before the next time it's used ;).
Thanks to my friend Simon, who is something of an audio-visual whizz, we also had a projector for the second half of the rugby, meaning we had life-sized rugby players on our living room wall and, more importantly, that we could all watch the rugby through the bay window from outside around the fire, rather than trying to crowd around my tiny tv. Simon is a legend.
Other vaguely notable happenings were the brief break out to make human pyramids - we made a four man base, but the five didn't work because people are slow and some after-midnight golf (which didn't go so well!)
It was a good party, if I say so myself.
Cleanup on Sunday was remarkably easy too, since the firebasket had meant people largely stayed in one place.
And we were generously aided by our friend Amy, and Miss Samara*, who had stayed overnight, so all in all it was only the work of about 15 minutes.
*By the way dear, several of my male acquaintances (who shall remain nameless) would like me to tell you how fabulous they think you are. ;)
However, the housewarming more than made up for it.
My little sister came up at lunchtime and took me out to Portabello on South Parade, and then came shopping with us. (Our friend Henry had stayed overnight on Friday, and he has a car, so he took us to a big supermarket) But we also went on a mini-adventure to find a garden centre, as Lenny had taken a fancy to a cheap brazier that he had seen in one of those random put-through-the-letter-box pamphlets. Henry persuaded us all that getting one was a superb idea, and since he drove us there we were able to take it home with no problems.
We got home just in time to greet the lovely Miss
obnoxious_muso, who had bravely trekked from London and just about managed not to get lost!
The firebasket, as the box proudly called it, was on the whole a success. Early on in the evening we toasted marshmallows over it, before my housemate's pyromaniac proclivities took over and he added the biggest logs he could find, as well as some coal from a little outhouse store.
It was still hot on Sunday evening, and still vaguely warm by Monday, which rather proved my point about the wood being unnecessary, but since he swept up all the ash last night, I shan't be complaining too much, just hiding all the big wood before the next time it's used ;).
Thanks to my friend Simon, who is something of an audio-visual whizz, we also had a projector for the second half of the rugby, meaning we had life-sized rugby players on our living room wall and, more importantly, that we could all watch the rugby through the bay window from outside around the fire, rather than trying to crowd around my tiny tv. Simon is a legend.
Other vaguely notable happenings were the brief break out to make human pyramids - we made a four man base, but the five didn't work because people are slow and some after-midnight golf (which didn't go so well!)
It was a good party, if I say so myself.
Cleanup on Sunday was remarkably easy too, since the firebasket had meant people largely stayed in one place.
And we were generously aided by our friend Amy, and Miss Samara*, who had stayed overnight, so all in all it was only the work of about 15 minutes.
*By the way dear, several of my male acquaintances (who shall remain nameless) would like me to tell you how fabulous they think you are. ;)