Von & Co. arrived late on Saturday night so I put on a family dinner at the Bollywood so that we could all catch up with her. The Bollywood has hosted so many dinners for us that it is part of "home". The owner has grown a beard but is otherwise the usual cheerful host. As a Sikh, he SHOULD have a beard.
We had 13 adults there plus kids. I booked for 12 on a guess so that worked out well. Getting RSVP replies is always patchy so I have to guess. I made a point of ensuring that George got an invite, as I always do. And that worked well too. George was in great form.
Kate and Von seemed to get on well and I think I know why. Both are real ladies. Kate is always very careful of her self-presentation (makeup, dress) so that fits. And as we all know, I have been referring to Von as "Lady Von" since she was 5. From what we hear of Elise, she is already a complete lady too -- at age 3. The fact that she has a gorgeous and very feminine mother may have something to do with that. It will be great to see Elise in November. Feminists greet the thought of someone being a lady with horror, but the men don't. So who's the winner there?
Maureen got Tim along, which was good to see. Maureen spent a lot of time with the littlies. She was always devoted to her boys when they were growing up so she obviously misses having little ones around.
Joe didn't say much but seemed to enjoy the occasion in his own quiet way. He talks 19 to the dozen with Brenton but they are both computer programmers so have things in common that even baffle me -- and I WAS a computer programmer in the good ol' days. But Joe does talk to me a fair bit when he is in the mood. I hear quite a lot of his thinking.
Ken was his usual interesting self. He has an enquiring mind, which leads well into conversation. He talked a bit about his literary endeavours and he mentioned that he gives away copies of the novel he has written. So if you have not got one, you can now go for it.
Both he and George were scornful of this "cultural appropriation" fad which seems to have become very pervasive. Everybody adopts lots of our Anglo-Saxon culture so why should we not use bits of various native cultures at times? I suppose that we use Sombreros, Indian head-dresses and the like for entertainment, while others adopt our usages in deadly seriousness. But what's harmful about entertainment? The new Puritans of the Left seem to be comprehensively against humour. Joe and I laugh our way through the day so it fits that we are not Leftists.
The littlies ran around like mad things, which I like to see. They get such enjoyment out of simple things. The restaurant mostly has a takeaway trade so there was mostly no-one else in the restaurant to be bothered by them. A family dinner NEEDS shrieking kids to be a proper family dinner, in my view. I was particularly pleased to see how well Hannah got on with her cousins.
I supplied some bottles of Seaview "champagne", as I usually do but everyone was very sparing about drinking it. None of us need to drink to have a good time and it was in fact a great night.
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