Happy Birthday Lizzie

Down here in New Zealand we celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s birthday on the first Monday of June each year, as New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of the United Kingdom being the head of state.  Being an annual public holiday, those in the workforce get an extra day’s holiday.  The Honours list is released over the weekend, with the many recipients being honoured and recognized for public service. 

We decided to do our bit for Queen and Country over the weekend with a “Right Royal High Tea”.  Everyone made a special effort of dressing correctly for this auspicious occasion, with many sparkly tiaras and crowns making an appearance.  Not to mention the fox fur, strands of pearls, long white gloves, fluffy feather boas, bow ties, and a top hat or two.  Selwyn and Kath looked every inch the proper companions to have at a royal High Tea.  They were dressed impeccably, and their tea table was set with a lacy cloth, bone china cups and saucers, a silver tea pot, a Union Jack flag to wave, and even a model of the golden carriage decorating their table.

Selwyn and Kath

Robin was explaining why everyone needs a pair of ears, to keep your hat from slipping down and covering your face.  But is this acceptable High Tea behaviour, I wonder?

This is what happens if you don't have ears

The men were arranged into a group to have their photo taken, and what a great bunch of blokes they were.  Not too sure about the fellows in braces though – how did they slink in?

 

And just check these ladies out, everyone was in their Sunday best, diamond tiaras glinting under the lights.

A bevy of beauties in blue.

And what did we have to eat?  Plates of dainty sandwiches, lemon tarts, jam drops, and delicious chocolate éclairs.  And that was only part of the offering.  A couple of the ladies had got their two tiered cake stands out of storage, which really looked the part.

Thanks to Val and Bill for arranging such a great afternoon.

Barn Dance at Mystery Creek

The tickets said, “Grab your cowboy hat and boots, enjoy a roast meal before square-dancing the night away.” There were plenty of wanna-be cowboys sporting hats, we noticed, as we walked up to the Bledisloe Hall for the Saturday evening entertainment.

Bledisloe Hall

The hall, although large, looked very plain from the outside.  Once inside, it was quite a different story.  Along each side of the hall were a series of different decorated rooms behind glass walls.  This was a peep into the past lives in colonial times, dining room, sitting room and bedroom, amongst others.

  

Beautifully decorated colonial style rooms

We were joined at our table by our Wairarapa caravan friends, Rae, Dave, Lynn and Noel.  The wine on the table was sponsored by Leisureline Caravans, and interestingly enough, all of us were Leisureline owners except for Geoff and Eileen who have an Swift caravan.

A couple of cow-pokes

Our table at the dinner

With just two members, a guitarist, and a young lady who was in charge of an Hammond organ, synthesiser and drum machine, the pair of them produced a lot of loud rocking music.   Unfortunately, no square-dancing took place so we didn’t get to practise our Do Sa Dos, Promenades, or Spin Chain the Gears.  Believe it or not, many years ago the pair of us were members of a local square-dancing club!  But we took our turn on the dance floor and shook our dinner down.

It was a fun evening in good company, and we all had a lot of laughs together.  Colin Bates, owner of the Leisureline factory, had a table at the dinner, so several of us went up to him to thank him for his generosity in supplying wine for the dinner.  At 10.30pm we decided it was time for bed and wandered our happy way back to our respective caravans.

Out with the Old and in with the New

New Year’s Eve was celebrated with a vengeance here in the hall at the Manawatu Caravan Club grounds last night.  The theme for the evening was “Flower Power – covering the 50s, 60s and 70s.”  Sounded just like our kind of music.

Local  band for New Year’s Eve, “RPM”

Tables in the hall soon filled up with interested party goers and in they came.  Flowing hippy wigs adorned previously balding heads, and a large assortment of Hawaiian shirts were resurrected from closets.  Some of the ladies were clad in long flowing dresses, while others wore trousers and brightly patterned tops.  Head bands were everywhere keeping all that long hair in place, as were “Ban the Bomb” pendants hanging around many a neck.  The pair of us decided to go with the Island theme, genuine Hawaiian we stress, brought on holiday there some years ago.   Robin wore a Hawaiian shirt, casually undone, while I dressed in my brightly patterned Hawaiian cotton skirt.

Ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve

We were joined at the table by a couple of strangers, an Afro haired fellow who had brought his blonde bimbo girlfriend along for a good time, it seemed.

Peter and Elaine in disguise

Geoff had a little trouble taking the top off his bottle of pink bubbly, but perseverance paid off, and the job was finally done.  I’m always a little concerned that the popping cork might hit me in the eye, one of these days, but luckily I came through unscathed.

You can do it, Geoff

As the music belted out, the party goers got up and danced along to the beat.  Spot prizes on the dance floor added to the interest.  We did our share of dancing too, and while sitting out some numbers, were kept amused by the antics of some on the dance floor.  We sung along to all those songs we remembered from our youth.

At a table behind us, one of the blokes had come with his portable bar.  It opened out to show an ice filled container for the drinks, and a table top.  Who needs a corner of that  table all taken up with your friends, when you can just wheel your own travelling bar into the hall?

He’s happy with his set up

The night wore on, and the songs kept pumping out.  When it was announced, “only 15 minutes to mid-night”, everyone jumped up for the last bracket of the evening.  Then the seconds were counted down, ten, nine, eight….until midnight erupted in a roar of “Happy New Years” around the hall, closely followed by a rollicking version of Auld Lange Syne.  But just what does this phrase mean?  Auld Lang Syne was a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song.  Its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight. The song has been translated into more than 40 languages.  The song's Scots title may be translated into English literally as "old long since",  "long long ago", or days gone by".

We had seen off the Old Year, and welcomed in the New Year, can we go to bed now, please?

Anything Goes

Ever wanted to be “some one else”? Just visit the fantasy cave of “Anything Goes”, our local costume hire specialist shop. We called in this afternoon after work to collect our alter ego costumes for Saturday night. Planning ahead, we had visited the shop last week to try on different outfits. We paid a deposit and the items were put aside for us, all ready and waiting to be picked up.

Anything Goes costume hire shop

The shop is full to overflowing with racks and racks of outfits. Anything from fairies, swashbuckling pirates, military men, psychedelic clothing from the 70s, and anything else you would want. Dresses, skirts, blouses, trousers, jackets and shawls are all there to try on.

The shop is full of different outfits

There was a whole range if wigs as well, to change your appearance. Even a horses head, for the complete disguise. Hats, beads and bangles, all the accessories you could want to complete your outfit.

Hats and wigs waiting to be tried on

So what clothes did we collect tonight? We are not telling, that would give the secret away. Check in again in a few days time and no doubt there will be a picture of the two of us pretending to be completely different people. After all, anything goes!!

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