I went to a party last night.

That is a title of a poem I once knew, from my childhood. I can still see the illustration of a little girl from the 1930s, sitting up in bed with a cup of tea and all her dolls and teddy bears arranged around in a semicircle, and she was telling them all about the previous night's events.
We are not normally party types, but last night was an exception. The lady who was being honoured, is a friend of mine from way back.
We were asked to bring a savoury dish to share, but as my oven has not worked for four yeas, I was a bit flummoxed as to what I could take. Bearing in mind we are three hours from Adelaide, where the party was, I had to think about keeping anything I made from spilling or 'going off', and thereby running the risk of making people ill. I sent a text message to my friend's daughter and she said just to bring some dips. I decided to take three different flavoured cheeses and crackers.
They went down a treat.
The party was held at my friend's half sister's home. I knew this young woman many years ago, when she lived here, but had not seen her since she was about two or three. Over forty years ago.
I knew many of Lesley's cousins from then too, but none of them remembered me. Which surprised me, as I was 15 at the time. Some said my face was familiar, but they could not place me. Lesley had contacted a man by the name of Geoff Scott to entertain us, He is a guitar player, poet, author and all round entertainer. He did a magnificent job, and we all had a ball. After the speeches, Lesley's brother-in-law, tried to show slides from her life, but the projector played up and would not forward them, and then the thing kept going in and out of focus of it's own volition. Nothing any body did could arrest it. They gave up in disgust, as we were getting sick of it.The party was timed from 6 PM to 9 PM. A lot of the guests left on the dot of nine, and then Geoff really got going and we had a fabulous sing-a-long. All the old, and I mean OLD favourites. I really enjoyed that, though it is just as well the others drowned my voice out, as it is not that good any more.
There were some speeches made, and Geoff read a precis of Lesley's life that she had written. She read it to me a few weeks ago, for grammer and spelling checks. She need not have worried, as there were only two small adjustments she needed to make. Every time she introduced me to some one, she said that I was the loyal and trusted friend they would hear about in the story she had written. It was a bit embarrassing I can tell you.
The food was great, though there was very little I dared to eat, as it would have sabotaged my weight loss efforts. I was consequently famished when we got back to my mother's where we spent the night.
Neville inadvertently left the head lights on, on the car, and consequently we had a flat battery this morning. We tried to push start it, to no avail. Mum rang her brother-in law, but had to leave a message as he was not at home, or just not up. Then she rang my brother-in-law, who came and tried to get it going by towing it. No go. It was only after the third attempt, that Neville remembered he had activated the engine immobiliser the night before. He hardly ever uses it which is why he forgot about it. One more tow and we were away.
We went and picked up a gasket kit that Neville had wanted yesterday, but which they said would be there this morning, and then we came home.
Earlier yesterday morning, we went to a Kleenmaid stock clearance sale. They sell white goods.
I have been needing a new stove as I said, for years. I could not believe Neville was even going to buy me one! Not only did we get a new cook top (solid hot plates) and fan forced wall oven, but a brand new 600litre side by side fridge freezer!!!! All for the princely sum of $2.700.00, delivered . The refrigerator normally retailed for $4,000.00, ($1.399.00) the cook top normally for $600.00, (199.00) and the oven for $ 1.400.00. (1003.00) $80.00 included in the price for delivery. Not bad eh? All in all, Saturday was a great day.