I've been feeling really ghastly of late - a hacking cough left me barely able to breathe, and the doctor diagnosed viral bronchitis. Apparently there is an epidemic of it going round... strangely, after the swine flu non-event of the century, no-one seems to have mentioned any other epidemics. However, after having been put on a nebuliser in the doctor's surgery, (I was the third patient in a row on Monday morning to have needed the treatment) given a course of steroids (8 tablets a day... you think they'd have made bigger tablets!) and sleeping under the duvet for a week, I have emerged feeling vaguely human.
I still have a chesty cough, but I can at least now string two sentences together without launching into a coughing fit and turning a nasty shade of blue...
Anyway, yesterday evening I felt well enough to consider eating something... but didn't really feel up to cooking. Fortunately, there was a Dinner/Dance event in the parish, organised by one family, and with several sets of teenagers volunteering to serve the meal for their parents and friends. I emailed to see if there were any spare tickets, and I was in luck!
Technically, it was a night for couples to enjoy themselves - having a chance to be husbands and wives rather than mums and dads - so it was a way to support family life. However, as one of the teenagers remarked to me, my "other half" was next door in the church, and He is omnipresent anyway... he just didn't actually need a seat... or a ticket... or dinner...
It was a really good evening: I'd never have believed that 50 people could fit in the small hall...


There was live entertainment provided by one of the very talented teenagers:

One of the diners had just celebrated his 50th birthday, so what looked like a firework was added to a cheesecake for an unusual birthday treat...

After the meal, the waiters and waitresses came out for a curtain call and photo shoot...

I think I am the nearest thing to (semi) official photographer... I usually have either phone camera or digital camera to hand, and it doesn't take much to persuade people to pose "for the blog"!




Note to self: best not to try to take photos after alcohol has been consumed... the photo is blurred because the people all moved... honest!

It was a very enjoyable evening, and hearty congratulations to all those involved!