We had a get-together.
There's a difference, you see. A party is where people get drunk and break things. A get-together is where you have a load of mates over and you all smoke too much of the wacky backy and have, like, really deep conversations, man.
As per the descriptions, I was wrong about the first guest being there at seven. In fact, three guests arrived at 7.30, having been given a lift by Rik.
The next guests didn't arrive until gone nine. By which point, we were barely conscious having drained a significant quantity of punch and chainsmoked illicit substances since well before the pary officially started.
Three friends from work turned up, bringing an extra guest between them. One goth, Lista, arrived looking beautifully made-up. I didn't know the other people perched on the couch.
Fortunately Rik did.
We kept our promise to our neighbours, and weren't too noisy.
However, this had little to do with our concern for the well-being of our neighbours, and everything to do with a) our somewhat quiet doorbell and b) the fact that anything above "2" on our stereo, was, like, waaaaay too loud...
Nancy didn't turn up at all, so we had four rather lonely-looking vol au vents which had been saved especially for her. As with most gatherings, we now have a refrigerator stocked with the alcohol brought by our guests, as they appeared to have abandoned whatever drinkables they brought with them and demolished the punch instead. Oh, and don't forget the vodka jelly - always a good plan.
I passed out during "Spinal Tap", the movie of choice following our "amusing" trek through Mark and Lard's comedy "Shirehorses" album. Paul McGee walked home, much to my shame the following morning, when I realised that had I been a little less wasted, we would have at the very least called him a cab. Apparently it didn't start to rain until five minutes before he got home.
We managed to carry the virtually unconscious Lista to the nearest bed and tuck him in.
Final counts: stains = one, on
carpet; damaged goods = zero. Hangovers = one, cured with Bloody
Mary for breakfast, and fry-up for lunch. Success rating, 3/10 in
party terms, 10/10 for having-mates-over terms. Not bad, considering...