Sarah Sturt's Blog

Rain fails to stop play

Well, in true British spirit, my Mum's 'Big Bash' at the weekend was a triumph of having-fun-whatever- the-weather. Originally planned as a garden party - we even put up a gazebo in a howling gale the day before - by the time high noon on Saturday came round, it was pretty clear this would be an indoor event. And do you know, it didn't even matter?

The best thing about the whole party was having my entire immediate family under one roof, something which hasn't happened since my brother's wedding four (or is it five?) years ago. So my daughter got to meet up with her cousins and found all sorts of things in common now they're all teenagers, Laura's boyfriend got to talk music with my brother-in-law and my sister and I got to have extensive chats over the food and drink serving. And the washing up. I truly never want to see another tea towel and could have kissed my dishwasher when I got home yesterday.

The scary thing was how short I had suddenly become: I'm used to my brother towering over me but, at 5ft 8, I'm not exactly one of the smaller members of the family - until now! My eldest niece is now 6ft, and only 16, her 13-year-old sister is nearly the same height already and 14-year-old Harry is 6ft 2! Even Laura, two inches taller than her mum, actually looked quite  short for a change. Mortifying.

The birthday girl sailed through the whole thing very serenely, only getting a little tetchy towards the end at the number of pictures being taken (why do you need so many, she cried), and seemed delighted with her presents - little sis and I combined to get tickets to take her to see Phantom of the Opera, followed by dinner in the West End, so that was a bit special. And the amount of food, which she fretted wasn't going to be anywhere near enough, was more than ample and absolutely delicious: put together by a catering wizard of a neighbour, the morning saw us all trooping from her house to Mum's with loaded platefuls before the rain set in, which must have looked really comical. 

Back to Kent and reality now, eyes down for press week on our August edition, in weather conditions that are absolutley nothing like the high summer we're trying to write about. But, as my Mum and all her freinds were saying to each other with wise nods on Saturday, it's good for the garden. Mine's now a swamp, but I guess they've got a point.

Until tomorrow - off to sunny Worthing bright and early, and I've got a board report to write .....

Sarah