Jubilee fun

8th June 2012

To celebrate the excellent Queen's diamond Jubilee our street had a party. I wasn't sure how it would turn out - would it just be a rubbish picnic where you don't know anyone? Was the rain going to mean game-over? Would anyone stay longer than an hour before being tempted to return to their nearby sofa?

Well. Turns out it was BONKERS. Almost the whole street came and the atmosphere was amazing - there were games, a fancy dress competition and a huge line of trestle tables covered in home-made tarts, sushi (I know, adventurous), cookies and cakes. My offering was a mushroom tart - incredibly easy. Just roll out pre-made puff pastry, cook in oven for 20 minutes, fry butter/shallots/garlic & mixed mushrooms in a pan, season, splodge onto the pastry, sprinkle with parmesan & parsley and that's it!

We also have an amazing DJ living on the street who played until midnight. Dancing in the street is perhaps the most fun you can have with your clothes on. It was utterly glorious to see young & old partying together as though they'd known each other forever. It made me feel all warm inside. Which was lucky as the weather toyed with us. But, in true British style, we just ignored the rain and our persistence paid off- after a few showers the sun came out and stayed for the rest of the day. It was lovely to get to know our neighbours as, while we often wave at each other, we've never had more than a 20 second exchange. We are now going to the pub together. Well, thank you Queeny.

I just hope we carry one having street parties every so often - maybe after Kate & Wills' wedding and the Jubilee street parties we've developed a taste for partaking in some good old fashioned 1950's fun - just with bigger sound systems and swopping contacts via iPhone.

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