Saturday, April 25, 2015

lorraine crescent ten years ago: 'extraordinary' (25 April 2005)


Tamsin and Rob

 Me 
Peter Alice Tamsin

I never would have thought, in my wildest dreams, that one day I would be a person who could say 'the party was a huge success'. Not that this was a grand ambition of mine, it's not like I'm figuratively sitting on a figurative slag heap of failed parties. I am not even sure how you fail a party. All I know is this one was a huge success.

Clue one: I almost completely only drank one thing. Can you believe I even considered perhaps not drinking anything, because I felt such a sense of responsibility to my revelling acquaintances. That would have been so stupid and such a betrayal of everyone's expectations. OK. So I drank whisky and soda and it went really well. Sometimes I just drank soda. Once I was offered a drink and asked for soda and was given cider but that was really good too and I don't think cider really counts as a drink to interfere with your main drink, it's a complement to everything. Late, late in the night I drank some claret. (Yes, I know people tend to say red wine these days but shit man this was CLARET). Otherwise I was on the whisky 'n' soda, a delightful drink though rumour has it it sometimes makes me verbally aggressive. How foolish.

Clue two: I waved to people and often got their names right. It makes you feel like royalty! I can't believe how great that was.

Clue three: I invited all kinds of people from all over the place. Strangest and biggest success was an old, old schoolfriend I hadn't seen for 27 years. He had even changed his name, and I don't know how I remembered that or even knew about it, but I did. By the time he showed up I was reasonably drunk and effusive. It was great. My mother was even more pleased to see him. I was amazed that he seemed so cool. In fact I have a slight horror that I committed a terrible faux pas with another schoolfriend who had been there, then left, then come back: I told him who'd been there in his absence and said 'he's cooler than you AND me!' as though, you know, it'd be easy to be cooler than you but can you imagine he's even cooler than me. But that might just be how I remember saying that. You can't ask someone if you spoke that way, can you, because they are unlikely to remember you having done so unless you remind them. And additionally I would reveal just how incredibly uncool I was (if it hadn't already been obvious) by indicating that I'd been fretting over this uncool statement.

Clue four: introduce people to other people regardless. I'd never thought this would work before, but it does. I forget how social people are. I expect people to act like dogs in each other's company, but they don't often, and that's great.

Clue five: have incredibly good bands playing. New Estate, Origami and Pink Stainless Tail. It really was outasight.

Clue six: That's all I have time for now. I want my afternoon tea. It's been a harrowing day correcting a journal article, worrying over content of a seminar, trying to figure out essay marking etc, and now I am going to an art opening in town.

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what a relief

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