50 years

Well, the first day of my holiday has started. Which happens to be on my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. A party had been planned for tomorrow, but this Corona mess you know...

So, my holiday didn't start out the way I wanted to. Instead I have had a lie-in until 6.30 am when my alarm went off. Decorating time! Just because Corona is messing up everybody's life, doesn't mean I can't decorate. There were balloons to blow up (the pump took ages), there was a flag to be flown, there were things to be taped to the windows and door frames. 

Filled to overflowing with food and drink

During that time my parents were not allowed out of their room. They had to stay up there, until I called them. Which I could only do after breakfast arrived (courtesy of my brother and his family). I say breakfast: it was a champagne breakfast! 

Yep, my mum and dad on their wedding day

I then called my parents down and they were able to tuck in. By then they had received several telephone calls from people they knew. Although the question was how those people knew about their anniversary. Simple: they read the newspaper and we children had put a notice in. 

The haul so far

Flowers started arriving, as did cards. And unfortunately the rain as well, but we weren't going anywhere anyway... There was cake, phone calls, e-mails, more flowers. My parents sure know a lot of people. 

Flowers from my sister

Fifty years together. It's a shame we can't celebrate like the plan was, but at least they are not forgotten. Everybody made sure of that!

The reveal

I had found the perfect dress-up dress to wear to the Tide Games this year. Only problem was the size: the largest girl size doesn't really fit that well on a woman with a bit more size than the average girl. So, I needed to adjust it somewhat. Tried with the sewing machine, failed and had to do it all by hand. Quite a bit of work, especially since I started it the night before we were due to leave. 

Seine is the (local) Norwegian word for either late or slow.
In my case it meant slow, as in slow up a mountain.

I looked fabulous though. Well, perhaps not fabulous, but pretty. Perhaps not even pretty, but I definitely got noticed. That's what you get when you dress up in bright (nearly fluorescent) pink! I only had the skirt though, so the rest was a mish-mash of things. My normal walking shoes, so I could be comfy all day long. Pink leggings, just in case I needed to run and/or get upside down. Or as the case turned out to be: use a toilet! Just drop the skirt and I am still decent. The t-shirt was supplied and then the hat.

Edgar wearing my hat

Of course the hat was brilliant as well. It wasn't pink as some of the others were, but ordinary dull brown. Which I had fiddled with somewhat by using pink ribbons and pink and purple stick-on thingies. But, as every cowboy knows: a cowboy ain't a cowboy without a horse! I don't know any horses. And showing up with a real life horse for our trip to Voss (nearly 5 hours on the bus) was not something I was willing to do. But...

There was an other option though. One of those toy horses. Well, a horse's head on a stick to be precise. When shaken it would make the noise of clattering hooves. Or a whinny or a pppfffffrrrrrtttt. It was brilliant. I called him Edgar, even though he was pink. And where last year they made a prize especially for my hat (I was the only one wearing one then, this year there were lots of hats), this year they made a prize especially for Edgar. Or the horse from Haugesund. Three kilos of chocolate! Now I have to think of something really good for next year!

The open class nominees. The guy on the left won. 

In an aside: I didn't win the open class of the Gold Bus, the one I had been nominated for. But chocolate is good as well!

Whinny...

Remember last year's Tide Games. The games where I won first (and only) prize for my orange hat? And doesn't time fly, because it's time for this year's installment. Last year somebody told me I should wear my orange hat again this year, but that is boring. The same hat two years in a row. And then I was told the 'theme' for our gang for this year: cowboy! Well, you can say a lot about my orange hat, but cowboy it ain't!!

So, I needed a cowboy hat. Which I got. And I had planned to get the rest of my outfit while on holiday in the Netherlands. Make it a proper Dutch cowboy. I got egg cups and plates. And a painting. And some other stuff I didn't really need. But no clogs. Or a Dutch 'farmer's shirt'. Or anything else that might say: here comes a Dutch cowboy. So, I needed to rethink. I felt a bit like Winnie then. But in the end an idea came out. 

Tomorrow, at the Tide Games I will be wearing my cowboy hat. And... well, it's a secret. Which I will reveal on Monday of course, because I am not the secretive type. But I like my outfit. A lot. 

This post is partly prompted by the upcoming Tide Games and partly by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie and Gretchen at Second Blooming.

And the nominees are...

Remember my winning hat from last year? If not, why not refresh your memory and read about it here. Well, I have been thinking about my outfit for this year's Tide Games. We have been given sort of an order as to what we should be wearing (not telling you yet, another secret to be kept from you), but how to go about that. Go orange or native, go natural or completely whacky. Of course you cannot help me, since I am not telling you the theme, but that doesn't matter. 

Mind you, I might not even need the fancy day-time outfit. I will however need a real fancy evening outfit. A new dress of course, I can't be seen in the same dress two years in a row. Perhaps some proper make-up tips this time as well. Because as you may have guessed by the title....

Now, the Tide Games celebrate the staff of Tide, nationwide. Drivers, planners and the like. It chooses its best team, the best planner and then of course all those prices for football, ticket machine throwing and the like. And there is an open class. The open class celebrates the individual driver that has done and is still doing something to enhance the enjoyment in work within the company/department. And I have been nominated in that open class. Since I apparently do enhance the enjoyment in work within the department! 

This is the photo used for me! I think I will have to change it though!

I actually make the photo album with all the photos of all the drivers. At times it is a struggle to keep up: new drivers, drivers leaving, drivers changing teams, but it is good fun and when it hasn't been on the table for a while (while I am updating it), people are forever asking me where it is! And this photo album is the main reason for me being nominated! 

Now I am wondering: should I write a speech? Just in case??

Brave

On Saturday evening we had our Christmas party. I got picked up by a colleague who lives quite close by and we made our way to the venue. In previous years they had organised the do at a local hotel, where there would be several Christmas parties going on at once. Which was never that nice, since there were a lot of strangers, drinks were expensive and people would therefore make their way to hotel rooms to drink their own stuff. So, this year they decided the do would be held in another type of venue where we would organise the whole thing ourselves. 

Those ribs were yum!!

Well, it was more like the staff parties I used to organise. But with more resources of course. And it was great fun. Everybody came dressed up in their finest: men in suits with ties, women with nice dresses and of course I was no exception. I had a lovely black dress that shimmered (yes, a new one) and my fantastic red shoes. Plus I had found my Christmas hat, added some bells and was raring to go.

The food was proper Norwegian Christmas food: ribs with crackling on, which made me go back for seconds and stick meat, which is lamb/mutton on sticks that has been dried, then rehydrated and cooked and served. Not my favourite. Dessert was Queen Maud pudding, which is named after the first Queen Norway had after its independence from Sweden. 

The drinks were cheap: Turkey prices as they said. And I tried several: white wine (2), dishwater (1) and a whiskey, courtesy of a colleague. The dishwater was something I started with and contained vodka, sprite and two other ingredients. It contained such a kick however that I was already half drunk by the time I had finished that!! So, I quit that and stuck to what I knew. 

Tide's bravest driver (on the right)

Halfway through the evening there were prices handed out. Or more accurately: certificates. They looked at the past year and tried to see who fit what description best. When the host came to the bravest driver, he started talking about seeing nature for a long time and not expecting to see the actual driver make it to the end. He was however very impressed when said driver did make it. Nearly on hands and feet, but the finish line was met. Somewhere in that story he mentioned Aurlandsdalen and I realised he was talking about me! Another unexpected price!

After all that, the music started and I danced a bit, switched to soda, danced a bit more, took photos and at the end of the night, me and a colleague were taken to a hotel where we would stay the night. It was a good night. 

Chocolate

I was away at the weekend. Stayed at a hotel in Voss. Spent Saturday getting soaked. Wore my new dress and shoes and lipstick. And I attended a gala dinner. All in honour of the Tide Games (pronounced Teeduh Games) which were being held in Voss and saw drivers and office staff from all over the country come together and try their hand (or foot) at football, ticket machine throwing, old fashioned relay and precision driving. I participated in the latter two. But some of my colleagues from Haugesund were also in the football and the ticket machine throwing. 

There were prices to be had for winning the football, ticket machine throwing, old fashioned relay and precision driving. Plus best costume, best supporters and several others. During the gala dinner the prices were doled out, some got cups, others got a large thing containing something. The best precision driver was somebody called Robert. I think. The best football team was from Trondheim. The best costumes were worn by the nuns and sheiks. And the best hat? 

This was the hat that won
Photo taken earlier this year

Well, the best hat didn't have a name. It was just the hat from Haugesund! And since I was the only one who had worn a hat that day... I had won! Completely unexpectedly I had won! They had actually made it a category after seeing the hat: they thought it deserved a price! I was in shock walking up, I was in shock walking down with a large plastic container containing nearly two kilograms of Toblerone chocolates!!

Get your hands off my chocolate!

Now I am just wondering what to wear next year, I can't wear the same hat twice...

Mojitos and herring

The weekend just gone was the annual Herring Jazz Festival here in Haugesund. Which for the company I work for and especially the people who organise the staff outings (fellow colleagues) is a good enough reason to organise a party of their own. And in contrast to almost all other parties, this one was going to be an all-you-can-eat-and-drink-for-a-set-price party. Which for Norwegians (and import Norwegians) is a great thing. 

I dressed up in some of my finest and took the bus into town. I was one of the first to arrive, but that was good: it gave me a bit of a headstart. The food consisted of meat and salads and the drinks were plentiful. Beers, white and red wines from the box, vodka drinks, mojitos (from a can) and something that sounds a bit like piranha, but obviously isn't. I made it my goal to try one of each. 

Yes, this is raw herring I am guzzling down. At 11.30pm!!!

The party was great. Of course I hadn't thought of bringing my camera, but there were several others who had and they took great photos and not so great photos. I don't think I was drunk, but even tipsy will make me a bit louder than usual (and I am loud to start with), so I was doing great! When the party seemed to be winding down a couple of us went down into the center of town. Hopefully we would catch some jazz. It was really busy down there though and when it started raining we decided to head back. The party itself had finished, so it was only a question of how to get home. In the end one of our sober working colleagues drove us home. It was a good night!

Little update

No, I still don't have my own internet and it might actually be my own fault. Something to do with mail and things: I had been sent a letter instead of them calling me! Of course the letter didn't arrive and I never knew anything about them not being able to offer me internet. Which means that none of the other providers will be able either. Apart from one, which I will have to phone tomorrow. Hopefully they can help me. Otherwise I will scream!

*****

On Saturday we had a staff surprise party. Gathering at a pub, taking a boat and going to one of the islands near to Haugesund. We had Bacalao (something Spanish/Norwegian with fish that apparently not many Norwegians like) and we saw the St Hans fire. St Hans is the Norwegian Midsummer. In my mind Midsummer is on the same day all over the Northern Hemisphere, but not according to Norwegians. They celebrate it on June 23rd!

While at the party I talked French with the wife of one of my colleagues. Apart from a few slip-ups I was alright. And if the slip-ups were in Norwegian, it wasn't a big problem: she speaks Norwegian as well! I was happy to be able to get proper sentences out though, very relieved. 

*****

Talking about languages: I finished my Norwegian course. Honestly, I don't feel I learned that much, partly to do with the fact that I was faster than the other three (they had only been in Norway over 10 years each), both in understanding and writing. Partly to do with the fact that we only really had three months. Ah well, the teacher gave me some course work that I could do at home, so that is good. 

*****

My furniture is finally all gathered in one place again. There was a bit of huffing and puffing and occasional swearing while we were trying to get some things upstairs, but we managed. The big dresser I used to have in the living room is now in the hallway and it is a bit big. It fits and there is enough space left, it just looks too much. The daughter of my helping friend might be interested and she can have it, no money asked!

The large wardrobe is still in pieces and will remain that way: there is no way I can put it together upstairs and having a wardrobe in the hallway is just silly. The wood is still good though, so I might actually use it to make some bookcases. Use the doors as the sides and the remaining wood as the shelves. 

*****

First however there is one more week of work to go. And when I say work, I mean work. Long hours, short breaks. Ah well, it keeps me out of trouble. I hope! On Saturday evening I will get my first visitors to my new home: the parental units. They will be driving up to Norway, which means I have sent them quite a wish list of things to take along to me. Stroopwafels and custard powder amongst them. 

Alcohol

The only store in town to get your alcohol from!

It was quite normal for me to socialise with my colleagues back in the Netherlands. We would meet up after work and have a couple of beers, before heading home. I liked those times, we would discuss anything from the best beers to who had worked for the company, world troubles to holidays. We weren't fussy. 

When I invited people over to my place it was me who bought the beer and (if necessary) the harder liquor. And of course the food. We would have a beer or a glass of wine even if we had to work the next day. 

Over here in Norway it's slightly different. Talking to colleagues it became quite clear they will not drink a drop if they have to work the next day. Even if it's only one out of six who has to work, all the others will be teetotal as well. Which isn't necessary a bad thing of course. You don't after all need alcohol to have a good time!

But when everybody is off the next day, the brakes are off. From what I understood basically a race to oblivion. The last man/woman standing and all that! Which was a bit horrific to my ears. Then again, you bring your own, so no extra cost for the host! Because I think in all this, cost is a very deciding factor. It is very expensive to buy alcohol in this country. Which I knew from previous experience of course and even wrote about I think. 

 

Anyway, I went to the State Off Licence (Vinmonopolet) yesterday morning to get my own booze. There is only one in the whole town, so it is usually quite busy. But if you want alcohol of any type (apart from beer, you can get that in the supermarket), that's where you need to go. Unless you're bootlegging of course, WHICH I AM NOT!!!

The party last night was great fun. And I got into the spirit of things from the start. I got myself around the first drink at half past six: some sort of Bacardi liqueur with Sprite. After that I stuck to my own: Bols Strawberry: very very sweet, but quite nice. After I had finished half a bottle, I had had enough. I had tried some Peach Vodka and some Liquorice liqueur as well and my head was telling me enough. So, I stopped. Because I knew that one more drink would result in me being ill. 

The race to oblivion didn't happen. At least not while I was there. It was just a lot of fun. With alcohol! 

Welfare

Most of our local lot back in the Netherlands

One thing that is vital if you're going to have some sort of social life in Norway, is to join stuff. I might not be the most union-minded person, but it is one way to a. meet people and b. talk and understand Norwegian. However, there are not only union meetings where I live. Yesterday there was a staff club meeting.

Now, if you remember in the Netherlands I organised the staff parties for our local lot. I was the chairwoman, vice-chairwoman, secretary, treasurer and member of the staff club. I booked the restaurants, the bowling lanes. I collected the money for weddings, births and deaths. It wasn't that hard. There were only five full-time drivers, a couple of part-time drivers and a handful of 0-hour drivers (ie drivers that could be called in if they were needed). They probably were glad they didn't have to organise anything and left everything to me. 

Over here however, it's a different matter. There are over 200 employees at this branch (four lots, but they are all thrown into the same club), which means there has to be a chairperson. And a vice chairperson. And a secretary. A treasurer. And some think-along members. And they can't all be the same person! 

There has to be a budget, plans for the coming year and everything has to be discussed by all the attendees. The budget was okayed, last year's was okayed, the incoming ideas had to be voted over and new board members had to be voted for. And after all that, there was dinner! A very nice dinner with lots of laughs and expensive wine (to be paid for by yourself, please thank you).

After dinner, a group of us went out!

Now, if you are wondering what the title means: it's the name of the staff club over here. It might be a very early 20th century name, but it seems to work well for them.

Now of course you're all wondering what this Velferd is organising, don't you? Well, every year there is a trip to Denmark. Then there is an autumn trip, perhaps a longer/more expensive summer trip. There might be smaller trips in the vicinity of Haugesund, of course the Christmas dinners (very big in Norway) and birthday gifts for those who reach 50, 60 or 70 (yes, we have several over 70 working now), wedding gifts and when someone dies, there will be flowers as well. Plus several things more that I might see and experience as the year unfolds.

Party Time!!

Sometime last week I got a phone call from our company's union rep: whether I was coming to the party yesterday? Since I was thinking he was talking about the party in Bergen (which was next month?) and I had to work both yesterday and today I told him I couldn't! But while I was at work yesterday he phoned me again: what time was I working yesterday and today? Well, early yesterday and late today, so perhaps I could go. 

He picked me up from the busstation to take me to the venue where the party would be held: only a five minutes' drive (Bergen is over three hours). I had seen on facebook that it was some sort of fancy dinner we would be attending, so I was fortunate to have changed from jeans to proper trousers. Turned out to be a real fancy dinner: men in suits and ties and women in dresses. I stood out a bit in my black trousers, but I had made the effort I could, since I don't have all my clothes here and I certainly don't own anything that fancy. 

This is NOT crème brulée!!

I met the big boss of the union (I think), there were greeting drinks, white table cloths and candles and nice food. We started off with asparagus soup, the main course was some type of meat which tasted really nice and I could use it to finish off all those sopp (or mushrooms in English) and dessert was crème brulée. Now, that is my favourite type of dessert, so you can imagine my surprise and little disappointment when the crème brulée arrived and it turned out to be a chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream. It tasted great, but it was no crème brulée!

The live music reminded me a bit of those hotels in England.

I left early, partly because I was cold (the heating wasn't working), partly because I was tired and I guess even partly because I still wondered a bit what I was doing there (apparently a lot of the original invitees had cancelled because of illness and they needed to make up the numbers). It was a nice evening though and I had a lovely chat with a nurse-to-be, who was seated next to me. Because of the music (live) she was hard to understand though, so I had to lean in time after time to hear what she was saying. But I think I got it all or at least most of it.

Leaving part 1

Since I am moving to Norway I had thought to give a small leaving party for my colleagues. Normally I would have organised the drinks and the food myself, but this time I thought I would ask a colleague who has some experience in catering. That way I didn't have to worry about how much food or how much drink, I could just let go and enjoy myself. 

And I did! There were colleagues I have worked with for years, former colleagues, new colleagues and the partners of my closest colleagues. We had a few drinks (there were designated drivers), we had some food, we had laughs and I stood and chatted with everyone I think. Everybody wished me luck and asked me about the wheres, whats and hows. We reminisced about the good old days, drank a few more drinks (only cyclists left by then) and finished close to midnight.

I will miss my colleagues for their friendship and their support. 

Do I function allright?

In Gescher, Germany for my first trips abroad

Every year I should (with the emphasis on should) have an evaluation talk with my manager. So, when I got my work schedule for this week and saw that I was supposed to be at the office today for a meeting, I figured that was it! And when I asked, he said there were some things to discuss about how I function and all!

Touring through the Netherlands and Belgium for 4 days out of their 6!

Fast forward to today. I arrive after my morning shift and ask him whether we could push this talk up, since I am already there. He says he has an errant to run and as soon as he's back we will start. Then a colleague walks in. He also has a meeting with the same manager. At the same time! Curiouser and curiouser!

One of the many many hotelrooms I stayed in over the years

Well, the manager gets back from his errant and invites me and everybody else in the office to that meeting! By that time I had already cottoned on though, since one of the drivers/office workers (she does both) had congratulated me on having worked for the company for 12 1/2 years. The errant the manager had had to do was to get some flowers for me and my colleague and cake. Yum...

Parked in Winterberg

So, for the past twelve and a half years I've knocked over lamp posts, totalled two cars, hit several other cars (including a porsche and a police car). I've parked in the sand and had to be towed out by a four wheel tractor, I've parked on top of a small pole (not meaning a Polish person). I've lost a few mirrors here and there. I've had Americans, Japanese, Scots, Italians, French, Germans and Dutch on board. I've been to Ireland, England, Scotland, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and of course the Netherlands.

Twelve and a half years. It's like a life time!

I don't get it!

Good food, good company, good jokes all make for a good night. So, last night was a great night, since the chef was ill according to the guy who served us and we had to cook our own food, the company consisted of my colleagues and their partners and the jokes I didn't get!

Seriously though. We went to do something that in the Netherlands is called 'gourmetting' (see top photo). We were all given a little frying pan and could choose between several different types of meat to fry. There were fries (we have to have fries, it's very important to have fries) and sauces and drink flowed freely. I got all jokes apart from one and I can't even tell you, since it won't make sense to you.

After dinner we went bowling and my first hit was atrocious. I picked up though and finally ended with a 105 score. I was so happy: I was the best woman. Until the wife of one of my colleagues ended up with 124 being the best of all, including the men! It was great fun though.

We always end our outings fairly early. No point in hanging around, getting absolutely drunk and annoying everybody else. We stop at the high point. Pleasantly sozzled and well fed.

The Wobbly Wheel

Dutch Shuffleboard

The Wobbly Wheel is the name of our staff-club. I don't know who came up with it, but I've always liked that name. It gives you a definite lack of trust in us! I have been organising the staff parties for a few years now. I think the only one I didn't organise was the very first one, but I have been involved with every single one after that. We visited a brewery once, we went quad biking, indoor mini-golf, bowling and the last few years we stuck to barbecues.

This year however, we decided to push the boat out a bit again. So, I tried to find a nice thing to do apart from just eating. And I found the perfect thing: a painting course. But my colleagues didn't think it was perfect and it was shelved, opting for old fashioned parlour games instead. The first date had to be cancelled due to the bad weather, but last night it could finally go ahead. With more people attending as well, so that was good!

After arriving we had some hot chocolate and after that we went out for a treasure hunt. Of course I got us lost (missing half the clues on the sheet of paper), but in the end it turned out we hadn't got lost at all, we had done exactly as we had been supposed to do! We didn't answer many questions right though: only three out of ten!

Mmmm, ice-cream...

Dinner was served shortly after we had returned and after ice-cream (by the way, I only ate one!), it was time to play some parlour games. We had a lot of fun and I was extra happy because I had the highest score with 'sjoelen' (aka Dutch Shuffleboard). Everybody had a good time and we broke up the party shortly after ten pm.

Weekend

Have you ever met anyone who is perfectly nice and yet... Well, I have. I was invited yesterday to a little gathering/small party for an old colleague. Now, I say old colleague, but he left three years before I came, so why I was invited was a bit of a mystery, but never mind, I did know him.

The former colleague who had organised the party is a nice guy (he never let me start earlier than 6am) and his wife is really nice as well. It's just... she gets on my nerves, I don't know why. It might be because she has those strict views on things. And I know where she's coming from, it's just that I am so not that type of person and I feel she's judging me and finds me lacking.

I shouldn't really be bothered by it, I know. But it does annoy me a bit. Her being slightly patronizing and myself for being bothered by it.

The rest of the weekend passed okay. I only had water yesterday at the party and didn't really go to bed too late. I did however wake up with a heavy head and today my arms have occasionally felt as if they were made from something other than what they're really made of. I spent my time today preparing for Italy: figuring out which routes to take, finding out where the hotels are and then writing it all down, just in case my sat nav gives up the ghost on me!

Tomorrow morning a colleague will pick me up at 07.30am (!) so we can go clean my coach and I can get some bottled water for the road. The thing is, I still have to prepare for Scotland as well. I've known about Scotland for over two weeks now, so I could have been preparing for a lot longer, but hey, it's me! Last minute is my middle name. Well, actually Maria is, but ah, you know what I'm babbling about and I will stop now...

Men in uniform

I've organised our staff party for several years now. We used to go somewhere, but the cost of that has risen so far, we decided to stay in this year. Meaning using our garage/cleaning area/canteen. And the thing that would be easiest would be a barbecue. We had done it before, both in our former workplace (across the road) and our current workplace, so we knew it was feasible.

I got the food and drink sorted, some colleagues helped me get the space ready and a bit more homely, after all, it is a huge garage: it could hold two buses, one atop the other. From five o'clock the people started arriving and we had a fantastic time. The soup tasted great and then we started the barbecue.

And then, at six o'clock, the fire alarm started blaring away. The racket it made, just incredible! I phoned the fire brigade to tell them it was false alarm, we were just having a barbecue and then I managed to turn off the noise. I couldn't reset the thing until the smoke had cleared and that wouldn't be until after we had finished. The suggestion by the lady of the fire brigade to move the barbecues outside was a suggestion we obviously ignored: it was around freezing!

A few hours later I got a phonecall from the company's support team. They knew we were having a barbecue and couldn't really care less, but if I could reset the alarm? Of course, I was about to do that anyway, since we were on our desserts by then. I had just rejoined the party, when someone wanted to see the person in charge. Which would be me (for one night only).

It was a fireman! Not in uniform (he wore the same coat as we do, just with a different emblem on his sleeve) and unfortunately a bit advanced in years (I can dream...).

He told me that we hadn't been allowed to have a barbecue, since the space we held it in was designated a garage(!), but then again, the alarm had gone off at 6 and it was now nearing 8.30pm, I don't think he cared that much, he just had to come by to enforce the rules. Ah well, the party was winding down anyway, so we weren't that bothered. I also doubt we will not go ahead with a future barbecue because of this, I think we will just be a bit more cautious!

By 9pm most people were leaving, so the remainder of the people starting clearing and cleaning and by 9.30pm everything was in order again.

The evening had been a succes!!!