Festive Aftermath

While we try and settle into our new New Year routine and catch up with our “Life Admin”, much neglected after a December of mounting festivities and excitement, we thought we would revert back to posting just three times a week on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for a little while to get back into the rhythm of things and then, because we took a full week off between Christmas Day and New Year we also thought that we might back track with a couple of posts to cover the events from that week, if that’s OK?

Sooooooooooo, you find us in totally exhausted mode after our tradition New Year Iris and Bertie Sleepover, we are by no means sorted, there are dishes still waiting to be put away and don’t tell me about all the decorations that still need to go back into their boxes, as well as the festive bedding that has to be washed and then vacuumed bagged for another year …….. but then, we wouldn’t have it any other way, to be honest, in Covid Tier 3, we have all the time in the world to tidy it away.

Anyway, I digress, I was put in charge of the much anticipated (by Young Master Bertie) Fruit Shoot cocktail bar ……….. 

…….. while Nigel was responsible for the full and varied Pic n Mix table, making sure that the Malteser dispensing machine seriously was kept topped up at all times and no one ate actually their own weight in sugary comestibles

Needless to say Darrell was in charge of the kitchen, preparing the most fabulous first roast of 2021. All the prep was done on New Years Eve ……

…….. using as many tin foil dishes as he could muster in an effort to lessen the humungous mountain of washing up we always seem to be greeted by each year, once all our guests have departed. No one really wants to tackle a gravy besmirched Everest at any time, least of all on the first day of a brand new year.

However, Darrell got off pretty lightly in the kitchen tea-time wise on New Years Eve as we decided to push the boat out, throwing financial caution to the wind with a small, create your own Dominoes pizza for the young Master and Miss, knowing that it would be a really special, much appreciated, grown up treat resulting in untold excitement as each carefully selected their own toppings of choice.

Iris went for meatballs, mushrooms and ham, “NO CHEESE”, as she says just the thought of it makes her skin go all “creepy crawly” and Bertie opting for a ham, pepperoni, bacon, tomatoes and lashings of cheese combo.  Darrell, Nigel and I shared a medium Texas Chicken and Meat Feast between us, which, in turn, made us all think that we really ought do a “Deliveroo” take away revue some time in the future. 

Said wonderful pizza extravaganza was swiftly followed by our traditional New Years Midnight Walk, which, this year, was uncharacteristically cut short due to the ground being really slippery and muddy after the slight flooding we experienced just before Christmas, plus …….. it was bitterly cold too.

However it was every bit as romantic and as much fun as ever, with our little procession tramping along the various footpaths, carrying our collection of whirling, multicoloured novelty lights, torches and glowsticks proudly aloft, accompanied by our ghostly howlings, bidding farewell and, to be honest, good riddance to 2020, a year that kept us apart for sooooooooooooooooooo unbearably long!

Then it was back to The Towers for another New Years tradition, Nigel’s famous bath foam party ………

…… where three cans of bath foam (pink, blue and white) were expelled amidst much deafening squealing and at times uncontrollable, almost breath stopping laughter.

It was yet another triumph ……. and the resulting mess? That perhaps was not quite as pleasurable for poor old Nigel to clean up in the cold light of day.

And then …… early to bed, full of fresh air, clean to the point of squeakiness, totally exhausted but very, very happy.  Call us party poopers but Darrell, Nigel and I decided to retire rather early too, for the first time in as long as any of us can remember we didn’t stay up for midnight, to use the word of the year, it was “unprecedented”, but with Big Ben not bonging to herald the traditional New Years firework display, we decided we should leave 2020 exactly where it needed to be, in the past, and then greet 2021 with caution in the morning ……….

Picture taken from https://joolsholland.com/

…….. coupled with the fact that the best there was on the tele was the Best Bits Ever of Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenanny ……… and that, we have to be honest, we could all live without!