Proper Planning Promotes Proper Parties

I’m starting this blog from my bed on a Saturday night. It’s wasn’t my plan. The plan was to be in the motorhome at Penvose Farm Campsite near St Mawgan, a “family" campsite. We tried one night and I can report, of all the places we’ve parked our motorhome or previously parked our camper van or touring caravan or trailer tent, here or abroad, we’ve never left early.

At the campsite on one side of us was a 30th birthday party with 16 participants. The other side there was a group of people amounting to about 40 partying and driving about the campsite until about 3am. Charming. They were planning to party proper tonight. With Louie, a 6 year old and Mila a 3 year old in a tent alongside (with mum and dad) it was totally unacceptable. We left and had a refund.

I’m telling you this because it wasn’t our plan.

We all make plans, some of us more than others. Some plans are more detailed than others. I like to plan. Occasionally I make a rod for my back but I rectify that pretty quickly.

Now if I plan something I need to work around my increasing lack of stamina. I’m not just talking about lacking physical stamina either. I experience a certain lack of mental stamina as well. I need to plan around eating, the time of day, what I did yesterday, what I want to do tomorrow and so on. I’m generally good in the morning, rubbish in the afternoon and a bit better again in the evening. I might get up reasonably early but I can only do that because I often go to bed early. Those who see me are generally seeing me on a planned occasion. What you may see on a Thursday morning at a coffee gathering usually precedes, (what you don’t see), an afternoon asleep.

Phone calls are spookily tiring. Sometimes I think they’re much more tiring than talking face to face. Driving is tiring, being a passenger is sometimes more tiring. I almost never venture far away from home in the evening. All my energy is in the morning.

For the time being my Tuesday morning Coffee Club is safe, as is Coffee in the County on a Thursday morning. But they’re both, of course, subject to review.

So what of my future plans? I’m not sure, if the way I've been feeling lately is anything to go by, planning much more than 2 or 3 weeks hence may just be wishful thinking.

Take my forthcoming birthday celebration plans. This ain't gonna be anything other than a quiet event. My actual birthday is on the 30th June. Please resist those “Many Happy Returns" cards ............ bad choice. I’m not expecting to see many if anyone on that day. I’m spending the 28th on the Isles of Scilly. If I’m well enough, on the 29th I’ll be recovering with the Coffee Club Zoom event. On the 30th I’ll be lying low with Tricia during the day and with Lauren, Abbi, Cal and the kids in the evening. Thursday July the 1st it’ll probably be the Coffee gang in the garden. M.Y.O. (make your own). Then on Friday the 2nd I’ll acquiesce to seeing a few peeps for whom Saturday evening isn’t an option. Likewise on the Sunday morning. Other than these few caveats it’ll be a kind of party on Saturday the 3rd of July. Like any planning there’ll be exceptions but generally we're already aware of those.

I’m only talking about my birthday event here, in this place, on my blog. I may mention it elsewhere but there'll be no invitations. I suspect that there’ll be too many people to speak to properly and that's if I don’t need to stay in bed.

Still talking parties, we’ve all been to parties where the drink runs dry. Tricia and I have always “pump primed" ours by buying 12 bottles of red wine, 12 bottles of white wine a few bottles of rosé wine and we've filled a fridge with beer. Proper Planning Promotes Proper Parties. Its all about the booze.

NOT SO THIS TIME! You plan your consumption and arrive accordingly laden. You want nibbles, bring nibbles. You want something more substantial bring something more substantial. Without your contributions the booze might just run out.

The joy of a late June birthday is whenever I chose to party it wasn't inconceivable for the party to have lasted all night! I've still been in the hot tub at dawn, or ambling off in our cars to see the sunrise at Porthpean. But for me that’s a thing of the past. F.Y.I. sunrise on July 4th 2021 is 5:14am. But for this one I’m afraid it’s carriages at 11pm.

However the plan is for a D.T.P. A Drift Through Party. If we said 7pm to 11pm the vast majority of people would arrive at 8.30pm and leave sometime after 11pm. Whereas a D.T.P starts at 3pm and guests drift through whenever it suits. Geddit? Good.

As for coffee this coming Thursday, how about the Boat House at Charlestown? 10am as usual.