Light the blue touchpaper and run like buggery…

My bonfire party went with a bang, lots of bangs actually, and a few screeches and crackles and fizzes too, great fun. I had about 20 people turn up which is quite enough to make my house look full, so it was just right. Pip came and was chief bonfire lighter and rocket launcher and I really want to say a huge and public thank you to him for all his hard work. Babe you did a brilliant job making the bonfire and chopping up wood and smashing large items of junk to ickle pieces and just generally buzzing around looking after everything. If you hadn’t been there I would have been flustered and stressed and muddy and would have broken nails and got my hands all scratched. As it was I could relax and concentrate on being a hostess, and I really enjoyed myself. Thank you so much babe, you were wonderful and I think we make a great team!

Of course all my friends loved Pip, well who wouldn’t. I would have found it just a little daunting to be faced with that many new people in one go, but Pip seemed to take it in his stride and got on really well with everyone. I was proud of him.

I did loads of food, and Pip helped me there too setting it all out beautifully, and everyone was very appreciative of the warming, Aga-cooked food and sumptuous buffet, so a good night was had by all. Brilliant. Must do it again soon. And some of those fireworks were mega, love ’em, the bigger the better. We had some little ones too which we set off on the lawn (had to do the big ones in the adjacent field) one of which fell over and started shooting into the shed, where I was standing. It was one that sends charges into the air (or shed) then they explode, I thought I was in Iraq, explosions going off all around me, dodging bullets, but I managed to cower in a little alcove. Mad, but quite exciting actually, I’m just a loony…

Two old friends and their 18 year old daughter stayed the night. After everyone else had left we stayed up chatting around the kitchen table until 3am, was lovely. Sue, the post-op ts from Kendal called in for a while, she’d been busy doing other things so hadn’t been able to make it for the fireworks. It was great to see her again and I really must try to get together with her for a quiet drink and a chat sometime. There’s a lot of things I’d like to talk about, with someone who’s been there and done it, so to speak. And she’s lovely anyway so she’s my kind of person regardless of our similar situations.

Everyone has sent me texts or voicemails thanking me for a great night, good food, wonderful hospitality etc, which kind of makes me feel warm inside. I feel that my friends, old and new have really taken to Lucy, the new me, the real me. The old me was just an empty shell and hadn’t thrown a party for bloody years, and I have to say, the old me wasn’t so welcomed into everyone else’s little cliques, and who can blame them, and I didn’t particularly want to be invited anyway, as I didn’t particularly want to go out of my own front door. Oh how things have changed already, how much better everything is. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I know I’m a better person for just travelling in the right direction, and I think the pleasure I got from being a hostess proved that.

The old guy went up in smoke, good riddance. The new girl smoulders like a volcano and soars like a rocket. Better than being a damp squib.

xx