Company Summer Party

Sunscreen aptly applied and hat in place, Christian and Kelly headed out to London, back to the office. We boarded the first bus onward to Osterley Park, a National Trust property to the north of London where the picnic was being held. We sat in the far back of the bus next to two Dutch children visiting with their family from the Brussels office, who were spread out elsewhere on the bus. Incredibly chatty and excited, they fired a deluge of words at me for the entire 50 minute ride; discussing everything from fairytale houses made from snoop (candy) to their horse to their dogs to school and their family and on and on and on. Cute kids.
We made it to the estate at 1pm, and met our friend Nhu and her guest Simon at the front gate (near the giant inflatable Elvis, of course). We immediately entered the park, walking along the pond past the cajan brass band whilst costumed characters welcomed us in.

The party was a blast as usual. On the terrace of the estate house there was an Afternoon Tea setup, with little finger sandwiches and scones. The rest of the party was set up with a 1950's flair to it, with a British twist. Hence, we had the roller rink, the Ford Model - T's, the diner, the enormous barbeque in the centre, and dancers on the stage, alongside the "Bloom & Berg" pub and a fish and chip stand, which I must say served the best cod we have ever eaten.

Speaking of eating, we did more than our fair share. As such, we thankfully went on the bumper cars and the other scary ride prior to consuming anything.

The majority of the day was spent mainly eating. Kelly saw one of the National Trust representatives who gave us permission to go into the back of the house and gardens that was otherwise cut off from guest access. When we went past the security guard, he assumed Christian was press anyway, and we took some lovely pictures back there.

Kelly also had to go on the roller rink, or else it wouldnt have been a true party. No one else was in any mood so she went on by herself, for about 40 minutes. It was fun, but she hadn't been on rollerskates on for years (she's a hardcore rollerblader through and through). As such, she had several amusing moments of near death since the breaks on rollerskates are on the front, by the toes, rather than on the back, under the heel. When she finally alighted from the rink and went to hand her skates back in in exchange for her trusty Teva's, the girl at the counter said "Are you Billie Piper?" That's only about the 8th time this year someone has asked her that. She replied in a very American accent that no, she was not.

With the heat of the afternoon peaking, we spent a great deal of time reveling in the shade beside the gentle stream that runs alongside the house. The two of us, Nhu, Simon, and our friend Steve with his brother Paul just chilled for hours. We had several giggles and made the occasional trip back into the main part to pick up necessary nibbles.

We stayed till dark, and headed home vowing to never ever eat again. All that remains is to adequately explain this to our Weight Watchers leader tonight.