Pirate for a night

Friday night was our company's last ever year end function, as of 30 November we will no longer exist... small fish having been bought out by big fish, really B.I.G. fish. Anyway, being (currently) in the shipping industry the theme for the evening was imaginatively decided to be that of a Pirate Evening.

The venue was spetacularly decked out with black trimmings, tents, table cloths, silver place settings and candelabra's, what I can only assume was cottonwool threads made to look like cobwebs, eye-patches and gold and silver 'coins' on the tables, little rubber skeletons and bandana caps. Outside was a photographer set up to snap up pictures of all the happy couples in a lovely setting of treasure chests filled with coins and crowns (all plastic of course, not that that stopped people from walking out with most, if not all, of the evenings props). I arrived promptly at 6:45.. not the first, thank god, and was welcomed by delicious fruit-punch and rum (of course) cocktails. Slowly more and more people started trickling in until our numbers must have reached around 200 bodies, including Adumski and Yummy D, most with their partners (except for the three of us and a few others).

After everyone was seated the speeches started, including a video presentation of interviews and 'behind the scenes' goings on from within the company over the last 30-odd years that we have been in existence (can you believe there are a small handfuls of people who have been with the company since the year I was born and before). The drinks kept coming, for me white wine and cocktails - the kids were with their granny for the evening and I didn't have to hurry home - and then the food, which was unfortunately the lowlight of the evening.

The starters included a few pieces of greenery with a drizzle of roasted pepper, a few slices of feta and 5 (exactly 5) olives on every plate. Mains were a choice of half a chicken breast (cut in 5 slivers) with some rice and a small helping of veggies OR 2 cubes of sirloin with a spoonful of stirfry veggies. Dessert was something masquerading as a cheese cake. And then the music started.. I haven't been bombarded with that much 80's music since I attended my last wedding, but then again I am one of the youngest people in the company and this was right up everyone else's alley... and it was actually a BLAST. Seeing our MD on the dance floor (on of the first people up there as usual) bopping away with everyone else is a sight that I will call upon in memory whenever I need to smile.

I am normally very self conscious and almost uncomfortable in my own skin when it comes to being on a dance floor with everyone watching, but I threw caution to the wind and took the floor with Adumski to join the rest of our friends. I know, an odd word to use for colleagues, but that is the nature of the spirit we have in our company, everyone gets along and we have sooooo many CHARACTERS that every day and every event is always made enjoyable by them, and I have become friendly with many of my colleagues. And so we danced the night away.

The highlight of the evening was certainly sitting outside with Adumski and a few drinks and each of us with a crown (liberated from the photographers set props) on our heads, watching other people and how people change when they have a few drinks in them, with some of the most quiet placid people suddenly becoming boisterous and outgoing. We sat there chatting till we were LITERALLY the LAST two people to leave at 1:40AM.

The rest of the weekend started when I woke up at 7AM (damned that internal body clock) and then managed to coax myself back to sleep for another 2 hours before crawling out of bed around 9AM to fetch the kids and head off to the second booking of the weekend. My son's school carnival, which he has been looking forward to for weeks. The afternoon was spent relaxing on the couch and trying to find some energy for the evening poitjie at a friends house... now for those NON-SouthAfrican readers out there a poitjie is like a stew (normally mutton or beef, but in this case ox-tail) with everything thrown into a single pot on a fire and coals, and then left to simmer for most of the afternoon. It was a lovely evening, the kids thoroughly enjoyed it and my boy fell asleep on my lap after he had run off all his energy. All in all.. a lovely weekend.