Dec 16, 2007 12:29
Our party was a great success... until a certain point when laughter turned into tears.
First the positive: the food was a hit, neighbours and friends mixed rather well (we even met someone new: Mark, a charming San Francisco bear who was visiting Martin & Elio) and everyone was having a good time and getting quite merry.
Sadly drinking - which is such an integral part to the British way of life - does not always bring out the best in everyone.
Quite a close friend of ours was hell-bent on getting drunk probably to prove a point to his on-off borfriend (but goodness knows what the point was). And, boy, did he not!
I had seen him drunk and jolly before but last night the funny and charming friend turned into something rather unpleasant, I must say. I was a shock to both of us.
And because of that the first smash: a large blue and white vase in the dining room.
Then at about 2:30 am when we were in the sitting room with a group of neighbours and the lovely Carlos, we heard an altercation coming from the kitchen followed by the sound of smashing glass.
Friends X and Y (no real names to spare the blushes), a gay couple, had a violent argument. Y took his coat and left; X ran into the garden and was crying in the gazebo.
Well that certainly killed the party! All the other friends left and when I managed to convince X to come back in, he fell and smashed a lantern in the garden but luckily didn't hurt himself (Adrian later pointed out that he had been lucky or could have end up impaling himself on the lantern post).
While X and I were in the sitting and B was alternatively crying and laughing, Adrian was doing some tidying up in the kitchen.
X shouted something at Adrian and laughed at the mess made; Adrian (normally the calmest person in the world) just lost it and swiped all the magnets off the fridge resulting in more breakages (someone earlier in the evening broke the fridge door handle off - we found it later on on a shelf).
So that was my turn to be in tears, not for the magnets but for seeing Adrian in that state and all that had happened.
Anyway, X left promising that he was going to OK and that they would sort things out (sadly, I don't have much hope) and as soon as he was gone I felt very emotional and I was again in tears.
I still have some welling up in my eyes now, just considering how much we were looking forward to this party and how the behaviour of some people can simply ruin everyone else's fun.
In hindsight. I am grateful that most friends had already left when the drama started.
I think this was the last party we will throw; it is not fun to have your house trashed and witness all this drama after putting lots of money and effort into it.
christmas party,
drama