22 December 2019

The Dinner Party




It was bucketing down with rain as we huddled under our umbrellas but fortunately out hosts’ home was only five minutes’ walk away.  Ian and Lynn live in a big house and their spacious lounge was warm and inviting with a real log fire burning away.  Paul and I were relieved to see the other guests were all friends that we had recently made in the village and the evening soon became merry with lots of easy banter.  We were a party of ten in total.

Lynn is one of those rare ladies that actually enjoy cooking and entertaining guests.  She is a talented cook and the food was delicious – we had a quiche starter, fillet of beef wrapped in prosciutto for main and an orange sponge dessert with custard. Ian was an attentive host and kept our glasses topped up throughout the evening.

Perhaps it was the abundance of rich food and wine, or the warm atmosphere of the dining room, but towards the end of the evening I started to feel slightly unwell.  I excused myself and went to the bathroom and ran my hands under some cold water to cool down.  Feeling slightly revived I returned to the dining room but within minutes I felt faint again.  I left the table and headed into the adjoining conservatory, collapsed into a chair and completely blacked out. 

Several minutes later I eventually regained consciousness with Maureen, a retired A&E nurse, and Paul standing over me.  Without warning I started being sick and Maureen reacted incredibly quickly and grabbed an empty decorative fruit bowl which worked wonderfully well.  I recovered quickly and, as the evening had seemed to have come to a natural end, we made our farewells and headed home.  I was feeling absolutely mortified.

This morning we received a message from my daughter in Australia.  “How was the dinner party?”  Paul replied, “Hell of a party, mum threw up in the fruit bowl.”


33 comments:

  1. This seems to be a theme this Christmas,go out for a meal and then throw up(Going Gently)It may become a new tradition to rival wassailing.

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  2. OMG I feel for you. Mortifying for sure. At least you didn't do it all over her white lounge carpet which would have been even worse than mortifying. Hope you started feeling better as soon as you had "got rid of it" and are now ok. xx

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    1. Thank god the fruit bowl was empty! Apparently being sick is common when you come round from an absolute faint so Maureen was well prepared. This never happens to fair damsels when they swoon in story books.

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  3. Oh how awful. I echo Rachel and hope you are now okay.

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    1. I'm fine now, just tired after a restless night.

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  4. Not a fun way to end a lovely evening. Hope you are feeling much better with no after effects.

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    1. Just suffering from acute embarrassment.

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  5. I had to laugh at Paul's response! But I'm sure sorry you were unwell. Feel better soon!

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    1. Paul was able to see the funny side of it.

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  6. What an evening.What a shame.Hope you have recovered.

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    1. I was having a lovely time until that happened.

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  7. Do hope you have recovered. Couldn't help laughing though at the way you told the story!

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    1. I'm not sure we will ever be invited back!

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  8. That's one for the story books. Sorry you lost that lovely meal.

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  9. Sounds like Christmas has got off to a good start.... 'things can only get better'. We went to the V du Pd Christmas Fair in the foyer on Saturday; it was so hot in the there that I almost fainted myself. I had to go outside for cool air. We didn't buy anything.

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  10. Ooops! Glad you are feeling better.

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    1. Yup, just totally embarrassed at making a spectacle of myself.

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  11. Oh dear...sorry to hear that. Perhaps you had a surfeit of small talk or Ian may have spiked your drink. Hope you are feeling better now.

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    1. Ooh, spiked drinks! Now there's a thought.

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  12. Good thing is, because she was a nurse, she's probably dealt with far worse! Enjoy the rest of your holidays! -Jenn

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    1. Maureen was one of the guests, not the hostess.

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  13. Do you think you will be their next year's guest list lol?

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    1. Possibly not, they will probably ask Paul to leave me at home.

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  14. I hope you feel better now. Enjoy the holiday.

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    1. Feeling fine now, thanks Yael

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    2. Happy Christmas to you and your family Sue.

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  15. Oh what a shame, but don't worry, you have at least a year to "redeem" yourself! Hope you're feeling better now.
    Happy Christmas.

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    1. Meeting up with them all at someone else's house New Year's Eve. They will be watching me like a hawk!

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