Photographers, artists, poets: show us PERSONALITY.
Slugs seem to be party animals, one is
rarely alone. If it has been raining and everything is wet and damp, it is a
group party. “Come and munch what you can, no holds barred Let us have fun in
the garden, but do it at night, when the humans are not around to see you and
make a salt attack” seems to be the motto. Are they different to humans?
I am not really a party person. In my younger carefree, “drink what you can, do it for a laugh” days, and always on the hunt for something as single as I was, I liked a party. You never knew who you might meet, perhaps the George Clooney/Brad Pitt of your life. Then I was ready for anything, although mostly I did not remember very much the next day..
Four kids later and now being a golden oldie, I reflect on those days and think “how did I do it”. If we happen to get an invite for an evening with friends, my main thought is “I hope we can be home by midnight”. I hate not having enough sleep, and retiring at three in the morning is not my idea of enjoyment. What really makes party life interesting is food. Someone else organises the food and the entertainment. As far as entertainment is concerned I let the others get on with it. I sit on my chair and see what the buffet has to offer. The only time when I am active is to pile my plate with something interesting. There might be crab, prawn or even shrimp with all sorts of fascinating sauces. If you are really lucky the buffet might be warm. I am quite partial to spaghetti with various sauces (I love sage in butter and cream), and also various parts of a chicken body can be inviting. And the deserts: you name it I will eat it, everything from ice cream to cake through crepe suzette. Admittedly I am diabetic, but there are tablets to take in compensation.
The liquid to drink with it all does not bother me. My younger days, when it was a sort of competition to see who drank the most and got happy and life and soul of the party are gone. To be quite honest I do not even remember how much I drank and whether it was funny. The main memories are mostly the day after when my first stop the next morning was the bathroom, realising that alcoholic enjoyment was not a morning after thing. I remember the feeling that the right and left side of my head was fighting with each other, trying to decide which direction to go. I had a general “wish I could die” feeling. Afterwards the question “why do you do this?” would arise. I do not have any wonderful memories of the time. Today I am happy with a glass of water, cola, something cold. I stopped drinking the hard stuff many years ago. I now even remember what happened at the party.
I am not completely anti-social and do enjoy an interesting conversation. It does not have to be one of my topics. It is the interesting part of life to hear what the others have to say. Of course if it is some sort of “I am the big I am” type that only wants to talk about I, me and myself, I let him/her run out of conversation and I concentrate on the buffet.
Most friends of my generation tend to make their social events sometime in the afternoon meaning we can all go by latest early evening. They are the parties I enjoy. You still have the rest of the day to relax and think “it was a nice afternoon”. After spending time with my sort of group of people, I can still relax with a book, or even retire to bed at a sensible time.
I hate blackmailing efforts to get me to a party. I remember when I was a working woman and all sorts of social events were organised.
“You must come, everyone will be there”
“Huh, who is everyone?” I would think.
Worse was when my boss would say, “You have to come, it will not look good if you are not there.” There were times when I almost hated my boss.
I just loved the organised entertainment combined with sport, especially where I worked. First of all we climbed a mountain together to have a meal in a restaurant where the mountain bear and goat say goodnight to each other, if we all survived. There might be one of these new sports parks nearby where you swing from tree to tree on ropes (all organised of course). I usually found an excuse not to go. I was not sure if party accident insurance was included.
What we all do in the name of fun, the human can be so self-destructive sometimes.
I am not really a party person. In my younger carefree, “drink what you can, do it for a laugh” days, and always on the hunt for something as single as I was, I liked a party. You never knew who you might meet, perhaps the George Clooney/Brad Pitt of your life. Then I was ready for anything, although mostly I did not remember very much the next day..
Four kids later and now being a golden oldie, I reflect on those days and think “how did I do it”. If we happen to get an invite for an evening with friends, my main thought is “I hope we can be home by midnight”. I hate not having enough sleep, and retiring at three in the morning is not my idea of enjoyment. What really makes party life interesting is food. Someone else organises the food and the entertainment. As far as entertainment is concerned I let the others get on with it. I sit on my chair and see what the buffet has to offer. The only time when I am active is to pile my plate with something interesting. There might be crab, prawn or even shrimp with all sorts of fascinating sauces. If you are really lucky the buffet might be warm. I am quite partial to spaghetti with various sauces (I love sage in butter and cream), and also various parts of a chicken body can be inviting. And the deserts: you name it I will eat it, everything from ice cream to cake through crepe suzette. Admittedly I am diabetic, but there are tablets to take in compensation.
The liquid to drink with it all does not bother me. My younger days, when it was a sort of competition to see who drank the most and got happy and life and soul of the party are gone. To be quite honest I do not even remember how much I drank and whether it was funny. The main memories are mostly the day after when my first stop the next morning was the bathroom, realising that alcoholic enjoyment was not a morning after thing. I remember the feeling that the right and left side of my head was fighting with each other, trying to decide which direction to go. I had a general “wish I could die” feeling. Afterwards the question “why do you do this?” would arise. I do not have any wonderful memories of the time. Today I am happy with a glass of water, cola, something cold. I stopped drinking the hard stuff many years ago. I now even remember what happened at the party.
I am not completely anti-social and do enjoy an interesting conversation. It does not have to be one of my topics. It is the interesting part of life to hear what the others have to say. Of course if it is some sort of “I am the big I am” type that only wants to talk about I, me and myself, I let him/her run out of conversation and I concentrate on the buffet.
Most friends of my generation tend to make their social events sometime in the afternoon meaning we can all go by latest early evening. They are the parties I enjoy. You still have the rest of the day to relax and think “it was a nice afternoon”. After spending time with my sort of group of people, I can still relax with a book, or even retire to bed at a sensible time.
I hate blackmailing efforts to get me to a party. I remember when I was a working woman and all sorts of social events were organised.
“You must come, everyone will be there”
“Huh, who is everyone?” I would think.
Worse was when my boss would say, “You have to come, it will not look good if you are not there.” There were times when I almost hated my boss.
I just loved the organised entertainment combined with sport, especially where I worked. First of all we climbed a mountain together to have a meal in a restaurant where the mountain bear and goat say goodnight to each other, if we all survived. There might be one of these new sports parks nearby where you swing from tree to tree on ropes (all organised of course). I usually found an excuse not to go. I was not sure if party accident insurance was included.
What we all do in the name of fun, the human can be so self-destructive sometimes.
I think we all partied a lot when we were young, not really caring about the morning after, until it arrived and we would swear "never again", knowing it was an empty promise and that we'd be doing the same again next weekend!! We all slow down as we get older and enjoy things in a slower, more sedate way. I still enjoy an evening out with friends from work, a meal and a few drinks, but not so many that I know I'll feel bad in the morning, just enough to feel a little merry :-))
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