The Kingbur Jubilee

This report is a little late, which is entirely the fault of the AoL editorial team. The editor's office floor was being given its biennual clean when we noticed a dog-eared yellowing parchment curled up in the corner – obviously a lost literary work, So we decided to publish it....

Jubilee in Kingbur

Some may say a Jubilee Party? With neighbours? Can't I just poke myself in the eye? No, our little community knows how to connect and support each other and so our Jubilee preparations came to pass.........

One or two of the more intelligent amongst us suggested we change the date from Sunday to Saturday due to an inclement weather forecast. This proved to be a good decision as the only person affected was my other half who had immovable choir commitments to ADCA whom he needs to keep in with as he may need their services in the not too distant future!

I know that people think I'm full of hot air so I was put in charge of balloons. My neighbours, wisely, have low expectations of me so this was my zenith. One of the many drawbacks to ageing is that your fingers are less nimble and I found myself behaving like a contortionist trying to tie the knots only to find that when I went outside to position my inflated balloons there was a gale force wind blowing and bricks were needed to hold them down! Not quite the elegant table displays we had planned but it also added to the eternal struggle of long hair and lip gloss, and that was only the men!

The ladies of our community were valiantly throwing their agile bodies across the tables whilst the men were using Gorilla tape to keep our Union Jack table cloths in place – a sight worth seeing although sadly, I didn't have my camera available!

As everyone arrived, eager to join in the fun, they were handed crowns to wear, or for the more elegant of us tiaras, and handed a glass of fizz so we could start the party with a toast to the Queen!

Without music, a party can feel like a meeting, so to turn up the tunes and set the mood with a lively playlist, our resident musician, complete with crown and ukulele, commenced a sing- along which we all joined in, some of us (me) a bit too lustily but who cared!
Although most of us are from the last generation whose baby photos weren't taken on phones, we all agreed that no great party starts with eating a salad and a glass of milk never solved anyone's problems, so a variety of alcoholic drink liberally flowed during our Jubilee celebrations, some of it even ran downhill and into the canal, enhancing the antics of the ducks who've had a tough time lately bringing up all those ducklings.

We had decided to bring the food out after the musical interlude, but just as our intrepid soloist was coming to the end of his selected repertoire .........the rain started!

Without any hesitation, or bribery, our altruistic neighbour and his wife opened the doors of their house and let us all in, a true gesture of goodwill for which we were, to a man ( and woman ), eternally grateful. The food was brought in from a variety of houses, and to complete our ecstasy, our 'Birthday Queen', ( just reverse her majesty's age ) staggered in under the weight of 5 litres of Pimms and a bag of ice cubes! We wanted for nothing.

Even when the rain stopped we remained ensconced, wandering in and out of their beautifully constructed garden, which, in my opinion, went above and beyond the necessary essentials for our party, but just added to the joy.

It just goes to show that the best times in life are usually random, unplanned and completely spontaneous.

Many thanks to all of the Kingbur residents for all their efforts in making our Jubilee party such a success. We may be an eclectic lot, but we certainly know how to party!!!

Steph