Next door had a house party last night.
It brought back many memories of a social event that seems to have gone out of fashion somewhat since I was a boy, a fact that probably cannot be generalized, I know as last night's party, was probably not really an exception to the rule.
As a child, the house party seemed all the rage.
Father was in charge of the bar, which was set up either in a corner of the kitchen,(not the best area because bottlenecks of drinkers vrs diners would occur) or more likely was organised in a hastily constructed "pub bar" area in the living room or Hall!.
Some relatives and family friends were posh enough to have their own purpose built, full time bars, complete with plastic pineapple ice buckets, optics and decorative glass drink stirrers (My Uncle Fred being an ideal example) but my father generally preferred a sort of impromptu, amateurish affair!
At some parties my father would organize optics for the spirits (to reduce expensive bingeing), the old fashioned party 4's and party 7's for the beer drinking men from the conservative club.......(complete with those "proper" beer drinking glasses ( see below)
There would be sherry for the "ladies" Bottles of Gin and Martini for my mother, Auntie Greta and Auntie Marjorie and the horrendously sweet Advocaat, the only drink that would be sipped by my grandmother.Lemon slices and cherries in small jars would be lined up with military precision on the kitchen units, and would complement the colourful finger food, which had been prepared , in some cases 24 hours before hand.
Pineapple and cheese on sticks, sausages ON STICKS...... miniature pickled onions ON STICKS.... miniature sandwiches ON BLOODY STICKS.... the food was a triumph of engineering!
There was Vol-au-vents filled with grey looking mushroom filling, grey looking prawn cocktails, pate and crackers and a whole collection of peanuts, crisps and bread sticks, all arranged in their own glass dishes or else collectively displayed in "nibble" containers, those with four or six individual parts to them.
The "sweets" were laid out nearby.....and these my mother would really excel at.
Sherry trifle ( groaning under the quart of Bristol Cream), home made brandy snaps, filled with whipped cream and left under the hot kitchen lights for hours as well as home made sweets and the odd black forest gateaux all stood proud on the paper tablecloths
The family and friends started to arrive from 8pm. The television would be turned off and the noise of talking, the occasional shriek- the result to a mucky comment- and laughter would increase in increments until midnight, when the alcohol effects would be at its highest.
My father would invariably do something silly. (run into the party in his underpants, slobber all over the most attractive lady at the party.....proclaim undying love to his best friend Fred)...There may have been a small family spat at sometime, but generally this was missed by me as a ten year old...I noticed other things....like just how much the smoke from cigarettes and cigars filled the brown and yellow living room, or just how much my Uncle Arthur acted like the suave ladies man, Terry Thomas .
1970s house parties were exciting, frantic, lively and even then, all rather silly affairs.......
We seem so much more sophisticated nowadays....
hummm
or are we?
