Tuesday 20 August 2013

Olympicnic revisited...

The site of the original 2012 Olympicnic.
Last year we had an 'Olympicnic' in honour of the 2012 Olympics, and really as 'any old excuse to get together'. Egg and spoon race, sack race, a tug o' war in which the rope snapped the moment weight was put on it, and the smaller competitors were nearly crushed under the weight of their beefier, 6ft plus team mates as everyone crashed to the ground. We had medals, and a medal ceremony and everything. No torch relay, however, just in case...and in light of the tug o' war fiasco, perhaps that was wise!

We used to have a Christmas meal every year, but as friends moved out of London, and began having children, this became more and more difficult. It makes much more sense to have a picnic during the day - it gives little people the opportunity to run around a field all day so that they go to bed exhausted and happy, and the adults get to stay up late (strangely, not as late as we used to...) drinking wine, and reverting to our former silly selves! The silliness started a few months ago, as we discussed whether this year's event should be called the 'Misanthropicnic' (Chris's suggestion) which seemed very 'me', although I also liked Royston's suggestion of 'Myopicnic', to take into account everyone's failing eyesight...


Fewer folk than last year, as there were weddings, special birthdays, and last-minute broken down cars to deal with, but it's already assumed that we'll do it again next year, so that's okay! We got so lucky with the weather last year, but this time round Saturday was a bit of a wash-out. One slightly anarchic game of baseball (Canadian rules) which morphed into rounders (no rules) and then we all drifted indoors one by one. Indoor games for the kids, then a slightly ad hoc (and embarrassingly beige) meal - 'must do better next time' - all finished off with a lovely cheesecake topped with home-grown berries from our Turkish/Canadian contingent, and C's legendary (well, in our house) Victoria sponge cake, then late night chat after the kids had been squirreled away in various rooms around the house.

lovely flowers from lovely Helen

Next day dawned marginally brighter, thank goodness. Breakfast was interesting, as certain adults couldn't quite face the idea of food... Note the abandoned scrambled egg, as someone went off to have a wee lie down...!


A game of football out in the field was a closely fought battle - eventually ending in a victory for the children (combined age of... oooh... let's just say less than that of any one of the adults) 10 goals to 8.


Some of us 'laydees' sat on the sidelines, guarding the tea... Helen was wearing the loveliest jeans, which she'd mended with a combination of sashiko and Japanese boro flair. Just gorgeous. I've kept some scraps of cloth from jeans that have worn out, so I'll definitely try this when the next pair get some holes. Sri Threads is filled with beautiful images of Japanese textiles, like sashiko and boro...


After  Helen and co. headed off on the long drive home, the rest of us risked the weather and headed down to the river for a picnic lunch, and somehow managed to avoid being eaten by giant ducks...


Time for a very short snooze (well, for some) after lunch and then, just like last year, the day ended with three men in a boat, a bit of messing about on the river, followed by a few trips up and down with various combinations of adults and children... and a River Stour traffic jam. There are regular boat trips up and down the river, as well as canoeists and other boat traffic, and everybody waves hello - it's all rather sweet!

 


The sun came out at last, and the river sparkled - just beautiful. One last trip for the little ones before the end of the afternoon and home-time. This little one screamed his head off about putting on a life jacket to go into the boat, but within five feet of the jetty he'd calmed down, then started waving and smiling, and came back like this... Awww...! A life on the ocean wave clearly agrees with him!


Lovely friends and a lovely weekend. Next year, anyone?

3 comments:

Royston Robertson said...

Looks like it was fun. Sorry too have missed it (car *still* in garage, grrr). Hopefully we'll be there next year :)

Else said...

Yep, hope so - you were missed!

Olicraft said...

What a great round-up, well done you and thanks again. Apologies about the scrambled egg, I'm just an enthusiastic wine taster :)