A DOTTY NEW YEAR'S EVE!

"It was a very informal and gorgeous party"

S U N D A Y,  3 1  D E C E M B E R

Chump and me got fir from the garden to decorate the dining-room. Ma got in a flap about tonight.

Changed into my maxi and felt a bit self-conscious - but it was ok. Hair in bunches. June arrived, then the Batchelors, then all the Gravetts! Gay’s terribly nice and Crispin’s grown into a snazz.

We sat down and had Danish open sandwiches, soup with cream on top, and three fabulous puddings - chocolate rum pudding, almond cake with lemon icing, and mince pies. Played our LPs as background music and while we had coffee we had crackers (not Fortnum’s but pretty good!). I got a comb and case – just what I wanted – and June got a plastic mack. Pa got a rain bonnet so he gave it to her, and she put the whole lot on!

We played games: Never Say Die, June’s clickety-clickety one, and the Dressing-up Chocolate Game - Guy ended up in Ma’s dressing-gown and Pa’s rush hat! Then suddenly Ma shouted from the dining-room “hey, come here!” so we rushed in and heard the last chime of Big Ben. Daddy popped all the champagne, it flowed into everybody’s glasses, and Guy went to change his tie because he had to have a new one for 1968 (Daddy misheard and thought he’d gone to change a tyre!!) We were all a bit dotty, and all the time ‘Baby Be Good To Me’ was pounding away in my brain… fantastic.

Then us four and June sneaked off to the Reids in the dark and shouted out “Happy New Year”. They asked us in so I whizzed back to get the others. Drinks all round, we sang Auld Langs Syne, and I pulled on Mr Reid’s kilt and sporran under my maxi-skirt!

Everyone kissed everyone before they went.

Otis and Carla: "pounding away in my brain… fantastic"