Lila's Party

Saturday was mainly spent in Centennial Park Sydney at Lila's first birthday party. We had been invited by Katie and Paul who we had met at Xmas. The sat nav took us almost there and we drove through the park as we had gone to the wrong entrance. As we arrived there were a few drops of rain and our first task was to put up a gazebo for which David had mislaid the instructions. Luckily the posts were all numbered and it became a logic puzzle, all we knew was That when erected it was two metres square. The brains involved got the job done fairly speedily and David was adamant we didn't need to peg it down. Five minutes later a gust of wind moved the whole thing so out came the guy ropes and the whole thing was securely fixed to the ground.
Infact the rain never came and the crawling horde of one year olds had great fun using it as a hiding place.
There was plenty of food and beer and the event was very friendly. In fact David and Paul even organised a game of tip and run cricket which I enjoyed immensely, proper plastic stumps were set up and the whole thing was good fun. Now one thing sixty something's should remember is that they shouldn't run around like, thirty year olds. I bowled a couple of overs and still managed to get the ball to turn quite a bit which I was pleased with, however when I went in to bat to support a lad from Bolton, I suddenly had to start running and after about ten minutes I felt a pop in my right calf and it became immediately clear to me that I had pulled a muscle. Result; I had to retire hurt,but not before I was run out. Now the cost of this vanity was that I could hardly walk for the rest of the afternoon and had to take two painkillers when I went to bed to ensure I would get some sleep.Luckily it is much better this morning.
Two things struck us about the party, the first is that you could never plan something like it in Cornwall and be sure that you would be able to have a party in a park. There was no wet weather contingency plan.
The second thin,g was that you forget how small one year olds are and the topics of conversation that young parents engage in. The intake of solid foods, the speed of walking, child care, behaviour and learning all came into the equation somewhere.
Zoe's elephant birthday cake went down really well, as did her peach jellies which unfortunately melted in the heat of the day, but they made a delicious drink anyway. Rosemarie gave me very clear instructions on how to approach them, loosen all around with a knife and the drink, easy when you have that sort of knowledge. The eating of jelly would have been hard anyway as there were no spoons, an oversight by someone and earlier the day I did see someone attempting a set jelly with a fork.
In the evening we had a wonderful paella rather influenced by Mexico, in that it was a little spicy. Unfortunately a swe had been late the night before and it was sour last meal it was all rather subdued, everybody retired early to bed, quite a sad way to finish really.