OK, another first in England; actually, it is a first for me, period. I was quarantined by the NHS (National Health Service). But I will get to that later.
After a quiet cup of tea on the patio, it was time to get ready for the party. The house was given a thorough cleaning much to the dismay of J.J. He does not like the vacuum cleaner and I think he also fears it will sneak up on him while he is not looking. He has to know where it is which means constantly checking on its progress and then darting off to the farthest place in the house. It is no good putting him outside as I believe he thinks he must protect us from the monstrous sucking machine. It does put a little fun into a tedious task.
With the work done early we had time to rest and prepare for a busy evening.
The guests began arriving for the pot luck dinner, which was brilliant - fish pie, sausages in gravy, perogies, and much much more.
The guests were the same wonderful group I had met at the village hall for badminton. We had to put in some time before the 10:00 pm service at the church so we divided off into groups; some to play poker, some to play spoons, and others to drink and chat. I am sure you know about poker, but spoons may be new to you. It is a game that involves four cards being dealt to each player and a pile of spoons (one less than the number of players) being placed in the centre of the table. The objective is to get 4 of a kind and is achieved by each player passing an unwanted card to the left. This continues until someone has four of a kind and makes a lunge for a spoon. This starts a free for all and the player without a spoon at the end of the melee leaves the game. Physical injuries are not uncommon. Maeghan was left with a bleeding lip and a cut finger - but they all had fun.
It was soon time to head off for a short walk to the Christmas Eve service. We left the 'heathens' to continue playing poker with a promise to say prayers for them.
I was concerned about finding space for us all, but we arrived to find plenty of space. I am still blown away with being in a church that was built before the new world was discovered. The list of rectors begins in 1130!
The service was conducted using the New Rite (I hope I have the correct term) which is very similar to our page 185 service. I thought I was following the leaflet closely, but was told after the service that I "lapsed" into what they assumed was the Canadian service.
We arrived home to find two experienced players looking very glum, while their student Bradley counted all of his winnings.
After a few more hands of poker the party broke up and all went home to await the fat man's nocturnal visit. I fell asleep nestled all snug in my bed, while visions of poker chips and flying spoons danced in my head.
Unfortunately I did not awake feeling too cheery, in fact it felt like the worst hangover I have ever had, not that I have had that many hangovers. I had not had that much to drink the night before, some pear cider, some wine and a nightcap of scotch, but nothing else seemed to explain why I felt terrible.
Jeff was not feeling too well either, so it was assumed by the rest of the family that we had had too much to drink the night before.
After we opened the presents I went back to bed and stayed there until Christmas night. Louise had cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner, the table was set in the festive mode, but all I could stomach was two pieces of cucumber and a glass of water. I had to go back to bed. That started an evening of hourly visits to the bathroom.
The next morning Jeff told me that he, Louise and Maeghan had started throwing up last night. Jeff did a little research and made a couple of calls and found that we had the dreaded Norvovirus. Jeff then received a phone call and was informed that we were quarantined by the NHS.
The next few days were a blur as we all tried to cope as best we could. Only Alexander seemed to have escaped the the old P&P ( I will let your imagination figure out what the two "p's" stand for).
We were suffering from cabin fever by the 29th and ventured out for a trip into Huntingdon and an order of medicinal chips.
Monday night we had our first full meal since Christmas Eve. We were all pretty nervous about what would happen after eating so much food. But all was well, except for Alexander, who finally succumbed.
It is now New Years Eve and we are about to venture out among people again, hoping that the old P&P will give us a miss until next winter.
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