Advice wanted: Eighteen come Thursday
(Sorry, couldn’t resist a Vaughan Williams quip.)
On Thursday 18 December, I shall be lunching at the club with that select society dedicated to the great Robin Goodfellow, or Puck: that is to say, it is the annual Christmas luncheon of our little association. The secretary thereof, the savage Landor, has as always reminded us all that we are free to bring a guest; eve, ‘in the unlikely event we have any of us more than one friend’ (savage, savage Landor), guests.
It is pertinent to my question to note that the members (of the lunching group under the auspices of Pook, not the club as a whole for these purposes) include a superannuated politician, a Master, a Judge, and several robed and bewigged fellows (although of course we’ve also members who belong to reputable professions as well, and indeed those who belong to none).
It is also pertinent to note that the food on offer will include shellfish, a good deal of pig, and of course lashings of wine, sherry, Madeira, port, and whisky, in addition to, naturally, the usual choices of lamb, mutton, and beef.
You will readily see where I am heading with this.
On the one hand, it would be a very useful opportunity for a Certain Young Friend to meet some rather senior men whom it would be quite helpful for him to know. On the other, it not only puts Our Amin Khan in a dodgy position vis-à-vis the menu, but associates him perhaps too closely with rackety and disreputable old me (someone is certain to assume that he is on my bill of fare, by way of being ‘afters’, that is, (wait for it) pudding), which I cannot imagine will do him any good at all.
So: ought I to invite Amin Khan, or no? Please answer on one side of the paper only.
ETA: Bless you all. Pippa wisely had a very similar suggestion. She is releasing Oliver to my custody for the day. Bit unfair on Amin Khan, in that Oliver naturally gets more entree to begin with, wh unfairness I meant to remedy, but it may be best for now to present the both of them. (No, of course she is not attending. Not with this crowd. Clever,Our Pippa.)