I told you the doily would come in handy. On my head.
So there we have it – year 3 done and dusted. Happy new year to all you nice people who’ve said nice things about my pics and made me laugh a lot. It’s a fun place this, here’s to year 4.
Woke up with a headache and feeling slightly icky. Tried to get up but just felt worse so went back to bed for an hour or so. That’s what comes of stuffing one’s face after weeks of eating more moderately – my poor stomach didn’t know what had hit it. Felt a little better after forty winks, so had a banana as a late breakfast and headed to the high street for a charity shop mooch and a look in the bargain bookshop. Managed to find a couple of top-ups for my costume - weather still very mild and rather drizzly. Beeston looking a little faded at the edges, seem to be more £1 shops and one or two proper shops have closed.
Back for Anna’s lovely garlicky pea soup and crusty bread. Went upstairs then to sew the finishing touches to my outfit while others started the dinner preps, which I joined in on once I’d finished my seamstress duties. Then it was time to get the doilies out and Dickens up. Dave and I retired to our room to become Mr and Mrs Micawber, he of the famous Micawber principle/recipe for happiness:
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”
Back downstairs, we encountered Pip and Miss Havisham (we hid the matches), a vengeful Madame Defarge (bent on storming the Bastille) a ghost of Christmas present and our hostess, Lady Dreadlocks with the biggest crinoline this side of Bleak House (many a happy hour was spent negotiating routes past her voluminous skirts, and sending small children up inside in search of the lost Amazonian tribes).
Gorged ourselves on the most delicious canapees and Chambord champagne cocktails, then had a splendid dinner – guinea fowl for the bird eaters and some rather inauthentic lime and chilli salmon steaks for us.
We then retired to the drawing room for some Dickensian entertainment: we danced Sir Roger de Coverley with Lady Dreadlocks performing for us on the pianoforte and played an extremely riotous version of ‘In the Manner of the Word’ (deviously, resentfully, spoddishly) – my demonstration of playing the piano ‘vulgarly’ went down a treat ….
Then all too soon it was time to say goodbye to 2012 (always hate this bit, where do the years go) – and we trooped outside with sparklers and topped-up glasses of bubbly to watch the fireworks go boom over Nottingham and try to scare passers-by (but we never see any).
Back inside, we had pudding – pears in Marsala and chocolate and cheese before eventually drooping a bit and heading for bed.
Madame Defarge storms the Bastille with a sparkler
http://365project.org/boxplayer/extras/2012-12-31
31 December 2012
Beeston, Nottingham
