Ta- rahs!

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A couple of colleagues are leaving the end of this school year and so we have a surprise do for one of them to attend. It’s an Arabian theme which the other one and I were going to ignore but then our neighbour J comes round having made the effort, so we feel guilted into doing the same… the other one grabs a tea towel for his head and I randomly stick on a pair of tights and a stained silk top (ever classy) that makes me look less Arabian and more an escapee from a mime school in the ‘playschool’ tradition. Still we made the effort eh? The party girl is I think surprised when we jump out of her kitchen and yell ‘ we didn’t do it’ and has a fun night dancing and opening the gifts that together we’ve given her and even I get up for a bit of a boogie amongst the balloons (but avoiding dancing in the middle of the party circle). The one blot on the landscape was the rude boot who I didn’t have a ready answer for and I spent the rest of the evening rehearsing witty put downs in my head which would have been mostly richly deserved. It annoys me sometimes that when faced by rudeness I opt for the polite response (often as I’m in the midst of being gobsmacked) and while not advocating mouthing off I think a sartorial sideswipe that the intended subject would most likely have trouble deciphering can be good for the soul and stop me obsessing over the 101 ways to wipe the smug smile off her sourpuss face.

Our other goodbye, a dinner at ours for H and her husband and son demanded nothing other than nice chats and laughter and possibly large glasses of water as I’d put far too much chili in the salad that I’d copied from Abs when he was here . We also managed to bagsy a BBQ and handblender from the many things that they’ll be selling as they’re leaving and so I look forward to grilled fish on the beach Floyd style - the other can do the cooking and I’ll do the drinking.

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