Saturday, September 29, 2007

A great night for a great bloke

Sometimes, even when everything seems to conspire against you, things work out really well. That happened last night at Jim Ryder's 70th birthday party.

I can only imagine the meticul0us planning which must have gone into ensuring this would be an occasion that Jim would never forget. Complex arrangements were made to house the relatives and friends that came specially from Liverpool. A first class singer along with a comedian were booked as entertainment and most important, an excellent buffet was ordered.

Then a management dispute between the owners of the Pedrera and the people who were running it nearly scuppered the party altogether. Jim and Marie are not people to be beaten though. They managed to sort things out including a new caterer for the buffet to make sure that nobody would leave hungry.

The one thing Jim and Marie couldn't control though was the weather. The party was held in the new outside area; possibly because there is more space out there and the acoustics are much better than inside. After glorious sun all day, the skies last night filled with increasingly heavy clouds. Minutes before the singer was due to start it began spotting. By the time he had started singing it was raining. People grabbed the sun umbrellas, normally reserved to give shade and used them to keep the rain off. The singer wasn't so lucky though. He ended up taking his shoes off to avoid slipping on the tiled dance floor area.

It then rained on and off for most of the night. The comedian had to stay on the stage away from his audience just to keep dry. The worst spell was when the buffet was ready. Fortunately it had stopped when the disco started and the tiles had dried up sufficient to make it safe for dancing.

So true British spirit prevailed and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We came home before the end because I am suffering from the bug that seems to be doing the rounds of the estate. When we got back home though we could hear them singing "You'll never walk alone" at the tops of their voices. I'm sure they would have heard it down in the town. There is a lot of support for Liverpool FC here in Spain so they probably joined in.

Jim will never walk alone and certainly won't forget his party in the rain that nearly didn't happen.

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