50th – phase 2

The second phase of my 50th celebrations took place on the evening of Saturday 10 July and consisted of a dinner for 20 or so of our closest friends at The Ed. Life has been busy since then (more later) so I have only just got around to making this entry.

In the meantime Drex has posted elsewhere regarding the fare for the evening so I will try to concentrate more on the ambience.

One small comment first though on the bevvies for the evening for Drex’s info. The original plan was to go for one of the hotel’s drinks packages but in the end Hedy and I just couldn’t run the risk of our friends drinking sub-standard booze for the evening. We therefore decided to just pay as we go. Most stuck with the Tollana that we had opened at the start of the evening. At $30 a bottle we knew this to be a reasonable wine. What was most surprising though was that taking this approach ended up saving a whopping $300 off the oroginal budget for drinks! The moral of the story is to beware of seemingly well-priced drinks packages!

I wanted to try and keep the evening as informal as possible, minimal speeches was the way to go I figured. So I started the evening off by introducing each person to the others along with a short bit regarding why they are important in my life. Generally a good plan, though even I found it a bit hard going at times … and decided to skip Matt completely ‘cos I knew the words I had planned were going to choke me up more than I wanted. So, for the record, Matt, you’re my hero, don’t ever forget it!

Hedy had arranged for Stewart to collect a short piece from everybody regarding the guest of honour and these were delivered later in what could only be described as typical Stewart fashion.

To all of you, I have the notes that you wrote and want to thank you for your thoughts … even the funny ones give me a direct link to the times that we have shared.

Anyhow, in summary, I had a great night … even if I did feel a little second-hand at 7.45 the next morning when we arrived at Noarlunga for Matt’s soccer game. No photos I am sorry to say … I was having way too good a time.

Thanks to Hedy, Daniel and Matthew for all their help in getting things organised and for putting up with me for so long.

All in all, good food, wine that flowed and a family and friends that most men would envy.