The Last Minute

Hello, dear reader!

Last week, as any regular sufferers of this blog may recall, I predicted that I would, at this point in the week, be ‘thrumming with excitement’

And thrumming I am!

In just two days time, you see, I will be co-hosting the biggest event I’ve had any kind of hand in arranging.

Yes, I’m expecting the worst too, but we’ll get to that.

You Meddling Kids
Before we do, it would be remiss of me not to mention last weekend’s murder mystery night and our part in the unmasking of… a killer!

The event, which was held at the hotel one Dame Agatha Christie was found at after her mysterious disappearance in 1926 leaned pretty hard on the history and ambience of the setting.

Yes, the time period had been updated to the fifties, but the mystery surrounded the death of a famous author’s first wife, and his upcoming publication of his discovery of the killer. There were a number of colourful suspects, a well plotted solution and a whole shoal of red herrings to swim through. Was the solution ingenious? Yes? Did Tina and I solve it? Umm…No.

In fact we managed to accuse the wrong person, for the wrong reason, with the wrong method, but 0/3 ain’t bad, eh?

Regardless, the whole night was a complete hoot, and I think we’d both be more than game to go to a similar event in future. But that was then, and, as the shine of the night fades into our alcohol impaired, memories it has become overshadowed by the thrill and slight panic caused by Friday’s joint 50th birthday celebrations.

It's A Date
My 50th was, if you recall, in August. Tina’s isn’t until later in the month. This meant the only fair way we could devise to celebrate both landmarks was to choose a date in between. Then came the thorny issue of trying to accommodate the availability of various parties, factoring in such things as holidays, and prospective guests own celebrations (anniversaries, birthdays, etc) and generally having lives.

This proved tricky, even with a solid five months prep time, but eventually a date was devised, a venue booked, and with immediate family accommodated, guests invited.

Of course there were always going to be a few ‘sorrys’, as no matter what date one picks you can’t please all of the people all of the time. A few late in the day drop outs were always to be expected too, and we had to build our guest list with the expectation that these last couple of weeks would see a few withdrawals. Luckily, numbers wise at least, these seem to have come under the heading of ‘acceptable losses’.

The Done List
Not that much can be done. I’ll simply console myself that most of the people who we should be sharing the day with, our nearest and dearest, families born both through blood and friendship will mostly all be there. The DJ is booked and will be informed of our general taste (?), with a few special requests included. The decorations are bought, The food is sorted. The dog is taken care of.

 There are probably a million little things we’re forgetting, but I think the main bases are covered, and, at this late point in the day I’m more than prepared to let the dice fall as they will, let down my hair and party like I’m 25 years younger.

After all, you're only 50 twice.


Until next time.

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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think.


New Tales Of Old


Death Ship


Pestilence: Drabbles 1


Reaperman: Drabbles 3


The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu


Eldritch Investigations