we walked through the park. it was so fucking hot. we kept seeing tall black people in traditional nigerian dress.
"are the bloggers black?" asked the smallest of the children with us?
"no, we don't think so" we quipped.
we had told the kids in the car that this picnic was with our blogger friends. of course they had asked "who's going to be at the bbq?" so we had to explain. princess doesn't like the word "bloggers" for some reason and i can't remember what she said to call ourselves. i'll get back to you.
finally we found elaine and fungoir and settled in. they're not black. not that there's anything wrong with that.
and then, in no particular order:
the kids had a water fight and then i bought them an ice cream each, from the second mr whippy van that turned up, because the first one wasn't authentic enough. we lolled on rugs, fluffy was just as i imagined and i kept wanting to hug her. elaine was wearing a cute smocky-type of top that i think i heard someone say she made herself. admiration high. i played croquet with cotton and clokes. i lost twice and cotton won both games. sublime was there, with funky red earrings and a tub of delicious shredded pork swimming in white lard that you had to scrape off, it was a larrousse fantasy come true! a few other people were there, fungoir and rowena, can't remember the others. no i didn't drink ALL of my wine. we waited for scarlett, who went to the wrong park. nevermind, next time! the ants got into cotton's bread and his mango was still uncut when we left. i wonder what happened to that mango? oh yes fluffy had her dog but not tiny man. she'd also brought her boots to play footy but no one had a ball. but the croquet and frisbee got a lot of use. we had african music, and fried haloumi. chops and sausages from algerian-french peoples. cotton didn't wear the white shoes but he did brandish a pair of funky original "swimmers" and talked about going to the fitzroy pool.
"when does the fitzroy pool close?" he asked the group.
"oh, 1987" was cloke's witty answer.
it was a good day. fluffy apologised to me about swearing in front of princess. i told her that my language can be bad and sometimes princess hears me. oh, mother's guilt. but to make fluffy feel better, later that night, after we'd read a few pages of harry potter 4, and the light was turned off, i lay on princess' bed next to her and said, "what did you think of today? did you like them? the people?"
and she said "i liked them all. they were all nice."
and no there aren't any photos.
19 comments:
NO photos?
NO ONE took photos?
Bugger. I was hoping for at least one water fight or croquet action shot...
I feel all warm inside after reading that. (No, really - it could be heartburn. Somebody please call a doctor.)
It makes me wish EVEN MORE that I'd been there. But Wifey and I had a very busy day. We met up with Scarlett at the wrong park and played a bit of footy (we brought the football).
Kidding. Scarlett was entirely alone in her muddled-headed-ness.
:)
I'd have loved to have been there with you all, though. Good call on the pool's closing time, Clokeeeey (although I wouldn't have known about that either, Cotton). No mention of John, though. Did he go / have a good time / sell any leftover Turkish carpets from your backyard?
And did you show off the ring, MG?
Maybe later in the year - say, in June or so - another such BBQ can be held? Was it considered a raving success by anyone other than MG and Princess? Not that I don't trust their opinions, but would any of you consider doing it again?
Only the ruggedest Everest climbers brave a June BBQ in Melbourne, Bevis. Frostbite is a real possibility.
MG - had a lovely time and it was so good to meet you. Next time with the TM. And hugs.
That sounds fun. :)
phew, I'm relieved about the swearing (mine, I dind't notice Fluffy's) so I'm glad Princess et al haven't picked up any of my nasty habits.
I arrived home slightly sunburnt but it's all ok now.
Sorry for no photos, I'm hopeless with that.
It was fun, thanks for the great food and it was awesome to meet you.
ps. I saw the ring. So romantic!
John was there, bevis. Almost deserving enough of our girl melbourne. Gorgeous ring! props to John for that. Did I mention that Peter McKenna is my bosses driver?
That pork thing that Sub brought was delicious. Concurring on that one.
um, yes, I did make my top.
Thanks for coming. I had fun! And yes, let's do it again.
x
Is Clokeeeey pulling my leg with this little revelation? (See the second comment he left me.) I suspect he's simply having a go. Because if he's serious: Wow! I never saw that coming. And I think quite highly of my own detecting skills! (Which means I'm going to be happy for you guys, but angry with myself for some reason, resulting in a very mixed up little puppet man inside!) Sooooo confused ...
(I presume it's okay to mention this, if it's true. Because Clokes mentioned it on mine first.)
If this is a joke, I'm really playing into his hands here, aren't I ...
hey bevis, to put you out of your misery, 'tis true. i played croquet with clokes, who is also john who is also my fiance.
no leg pulling, i promise.
please don't waste your precious time going back through archives. there were a couple of indications but you are a very busy little frog and it would have been easy to miss.
x
Wow, I'm so happy for you both, and yet I also have a burning desire to trick you both in return.
Stay tuned for that ...
*menacing glare*
*dramatic chord*
Not really. That's great. And I thank you both for letting me in on the news, even though I wasn't there at the BBQ to find out myself.
Did everyone else know this already, or something? Was I the only one to miss these supposed 'clues'? (You know I'm going to be reading through everyone's archives anyway ...)
:)
Firstly, MG, congratulations on your engagement. I was oblivious yesterday.
Secondly, the photo accompanying this post is disturbing me greatly.
That is all.
x
Is the first clue that neither you, Clokeeeey nor Cape Man have ever linked to each other on your blogs? (As far as I can see - looking at all three blogs now, anyway. Although you could have removed such links more recently; I don't know.)
Naturally, I can tell now that the 'moving house' thing might have been a pretty clear sign. Hindsight's 20:20, and all that. It also casts a whole new light on his song posts (awwwww), and this post in particular. Hmm.
Not to mention the smarmy little Miss Know-It-All who's only too keen to drop hints that she knows better than anyone else in the comments to this post! :)
Why would anyone expect this kind of revelation, though?
What's next? Is Princess actually Cotton?
What the... ?!?!! It's like a soapie! Next thing, there will be long lost identical twin bloggers, amnesiacs who recovers memory, mystery treasure and prisoner bloggers who escaped just to attend BBQ. Which brings me to this. I'm now revealing that I'm actually a [drum roll] .... male blogger... [only cheesecake susanne is shocked]... OK... I have no bombshell to drop.
And I dont believe you guys regd no photos. We are bloggers of honour. Fibs do not become us. [apologies to W. Goldman]
oh my god.
let me prepare some cool facewashers, line up everyone!
firstly, bevis. no one else knew, it wasn't meant to be a big deal secret, just that i am independent and wanted to make my own friends. however, i also didn't want to be a loser and asked john to make up a persona so he could comment on my first few posts. this is where capeman came in, firstly, then clokey took off in his own sweet way. clokey as you know likes all things sport. i, however, do not. perhaps blogworld was a perfect forum for us each to flex our individual creative muscles? please don't play a trick back, it wasn't meant to trick you all. it was just something private, i'm sure you can appreciate that.
rowena, here's a nice damp cloth for your brow to salve your concerns over the picture. now i can't remember. are you a vegetarian? if so, i'm sorry. if it's not that, do you have a penis aversion? or is it just that there's so many of them? just don't look, girl! and thanks for the congrats.
darling locky. here's a nice cool one for your hurty brain too. yes, he proposed. post is here:
http://melbgirltakeonthings.blogspot.com/2006/02/saturday-night-or-ode-to-mighty-yarra.html
and yes to clokes. with the e's. that's letters not fanciful pharmaceuticals.
who's next. ah dear dxxxx. i thought i did say who it was at lunch that day. but again, no biggie. thanks for congrats, and capeman was just another dude-persona of john's.
chai. no photos that i know of. the camera came out once that i saw, it was agent fare evader but i think he was just showing elaine some digital shots? but really truly promise cross my heart etc etc, there are no photos. just the eternal images in our minds. of that lovely day. on the croquet grass. with the african music and the potted pig.
I am so bloddy thick. I was there, I met you and Clokey, I watched you pack up together and take kiddies, AND I STILL DIDN'T GET THAT CLOKEEEEY IS JOHN. Could you please drop a less subtle hint next time, like for exacmple you could slap me upside the head* and shout "HERE'S A SURPRISE: CLOKEEEY IS ACTUALLY MY FIANCEE, JOHN. HERE HE HIS RIGHT HERE. FLUFFY, MEET CLOKEEEY/JOHN" in my earhole.
*actual slapping not recommended,
Hahaha! Oh, that's pure gold, Fluffy. And it makes me feel a lot better. :)
I say we risk the frostbite and try for a get-together around the middle of the year anyway. Maybe a BBQ is, strictly-speaking, not the way to go - but I'm sure we can handle something else instead, right?
MelbourneGirl, your 'cool washcloth' analogy is priceless - and you're so obviously a great Mum! As for a 'return trick', I'll see how my mood takes me (nah, of course we understand that your privacy is your own business!). In fact, I think I speak for us all when I say how honoured we are that you chose to 'out' yourselves to us in this way! First we have the opportunity to meet you (diaries and travel allowing, of course), and then you permit us (even if we weren't present) to know your little 'secret'! It's flattering.
You're right about the apostrophe, Locket. Don't use one there. If it helps, make the 'e' a capital, so the differentiation makes it clear to the reader what you're saying. "Es" as opposed to "es", which I think we can all agree is just too confusing and unclear. Glad to help.
Good call, Chai, re: Susanne. :)
Excellent point, Dxxxx, about the numerous photos of the proposal vs the non-existant photos of the Blogger BBQ. Was it, perhaps, intentional, do you suppose? Perhaps photos were taken for personal enjoyment, but it was agreed that no one would post them for the world to see. And if so, fair enough. I ain't postin' no pictures of me or Wifey - so I completely understand.
oh my god. it's all become a bigger deal than i expected or wanted. fluffy, it was hard to keep track of everything and everyone. i STILL can't remember your dog's name!!!!!
ps i saw a drawing pricess did yesterday, there is a cat called "fluffy" and a dog which i think has your dog's name, or similar. so there you go, you both have entered our family domain, albeit in pencil sketches.
bevis. the photos. NO PHOTOS. and not even for our own private enjoyment. it was just a few people having a bbq, not some world shattering event. i hate being the centre of attention (well, mostly) i don't like fuss (well usually) but i DO HATE PHOTOS OF MYSELF (usually always). and if one was stuck in my face i was going to say (politely of course) "please don't take a photo of me". also, as you have alluded to bevis, you don't post photos of yourself and family on your blog, i also choose not to. the proposal photos were different, they weren't of people.
so you will just have to make the next event bevis to meet us.
dxxxx, maybe i was wrong about that day we met. oh well.
locket. you are sweet. it's a second marriage for us both. and exciting as it is, i am aiming for low-key, low-fuss everything. except for a kick-arse dress! but in the meantime i have to get my fucking thesis done.
That's what I was saying. Maybe I wasn't being clear enough. Any perceived hints that photos were required were unintentional. Dxxxx raised a good point, that's all.
I certainly hope to be at the next event, yes. I'm already trying to garner some commitment, but so far no one's touching it.
What does that say??
hey bevis. re next event, for me and having not commented on it, all it means is that it's too far away for me to even think about. in june, you say? someone said a bbq is pretty risky in june, and i tend to agree. but if there is an event planned and organised, i'm sure we will be there. we will want to be there and we will plan to be there.
is that enough of a commitment for you, my little green friend??
[insert smile here]
It all makes sense.
Well not really. But it is very exciting.
I'm hoping to come to Melbs in July to see my team play (hex on the AFL for not giving them a game in Sydders this season) - Bevis I will take you up on your BBQ idea if we can schedule it then...
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