Arthur's Column

40 Years – My Birthday

And what a party it was!

My dear beloved wife, seeking the element of surprise (with a lot of help from the crew), arranged for friends from far afield to pretend that they could not make the party and then arrive, secretly, while I was upstairs. Having spent the week being turned down by “mate” after “mate” I was in a state of hopefulness that a good party could still be had by the substantially reduced attendance expected.

It was with some trepidation that I descended the stairs as people started to arrive. To be fair, I had an inkling that somethign was afoot – initially thanks to David who let a little bit of the cat out of the bag by suggesting that I did not know about the party (this on the phone as I was on the way to the drinks place to by the beer!), and later when Jeanine cam into the bathroom and closed the curtains, gesticulating strangely out of the window while I was in the shower!

It was still with great surprise that I walked into the lounge and found so many friends from far afield poised to party. Not only is such a large gathering great from a presents point of view (thanks!), it also is an essential ingredient in a Great Bash.

And a Great Bash it was. Paul provided the entertainment, helped later in the evening by Gabe and various other tuneless misfits from the audience, I provided the beer & wine and a great time was had by all.

A special highlight of the evening was the worldwide premier of “The Movie” produced by Karin and Paul, Directed by Jon, Editing/effects and (I suspect most of the work) Ash, Wine (in part) by me (unknown to me!), various starring roles by Babs, Karin, Grant, Louise and Daniel. What a laugh. I will post a web version here as soon as I persuade Ash to part with it.

It’s here!

Thanks to Ash you can now sit back and be entertained in one of 3 formats:

But wait! There’s more! Yes – it proved to be a daunting task to polish off both kegs of beer on the night so the party continued through the next day as well, eventually petering out at about 3AM on Monday morning.

I haven’t had such a fun weekend in ages! For all those who didn’t make it – its probably your own fault (I am sure Jeanine invited you). For those who did – thanks hugely for coming – it was a special party and tremendous fun. I look forward to the first anniversary of the bash next year (keep your diaries open!).

For the 1000 words version click straight through to all the piccies here.
Pre Party
Party #1 – The Main Event
The morning after…
The afternoon after…
Monday (after yet another party!)
More pics from Mark
More pics from Gabe

Cheers!Arthur