Not our friends.
They turned up un-announced. Why could they not phone first so I could pretend to be unwell and hide in the bedroom? Not only they turned up without prior warning but they suggested we go out to the Charity Dance in aid of our Church Funds. They had bought four tickets for both of them and my wife and I.
I tried to get out of it but I was out-numbered. I had to get changed, and then we drove in my car. I hate driving in the dark, in the wet and in the snow. So combining all three I was pretty much **** off at having to go.
The dance was at the old Church Hall adjacent to the church. I noticed that only twenty people turned up, and that included the caller on the stage playing records and shouting the prompts like, "take you partner by the hand, circle round to the left, do si do ..." and so on.
I noticed that the priest was not there. Can you imagine? A Charity Dance for his Church Funds and he was not there. I learnt afterwards that he'd stayed at home to watch the football on TV. Obviously, he did not have a wife forcing him to come out in the freezing cold and dance.
And it got worse. As a few couples got in the middle of the hall to start the dance, water from the rain started dripping through the ceiling. Now anyone sensible would have cancelled the whole event; but not this lot. They continued dancing.
Have you ever tried cowboy style line dancing whilst holding an open umbrella?
The man next to me hit me in the eye with his umbrella. I nearly gave him a mouthful of insults, but had to smile politely because it is the Christian thing to do to love one's neighbour and forgive.
Anyway, the whole thing did not last long. After about forty minutes they decided to call it a day and postpone the event to another night.
The cakes and sandwiches they had prepared were distributed amongst those attending rather than sell them with cups of tea as intended. So at least I got home with some nice chocolate cakes.
