When we arose the next morning, Steve had gone out for a walk, + Chickie was doing some shopping. She called to ask if Steve was home to go out + pick her up, but he wasn’t, so we trotted out there to act as porters. He called a little later to see if someone could go to pick him up, so I drove Chickie out. Apparently he had a bad headache, and had also had a row with her. The baby + troubles with it had certainly made him edgy, so that sometimes we felt uncomfortable. Later, Val + I went out to buy the teapot we’d seen – a good buy at $12.25. We also saw a cup + saucer in another shop, which virtually matched, but that cost $15, so we forgot it. We were all going to a beach picnic that afternoon, to celebrate Chickie’s sister-in-law’s birthday, so when we returned we helped Chickie prepare some food to take with us.
We were an hour late when we got there, out on Douglas Island, but still managed to be first, so we gathered some wood and, eventually, got a fire lit. At which point everyone else turned up, + immediately the food started… flowing(?) And there was so much of it! Hot dogs, chops, beans, salad, boiled chicken, fried chicken, hamburgers, salmon, crisps, soda/pop, fruit salad, marshmallows – amazing. Our group seemed to be full before everyone else, so Steve + I worked off some of our meal by throwing a softball, + then a football – he was much better than me at both – + then Val + I had a game of horseshoes – she just beat me. Then she thrashed Steve. And then we had to go – there was cake in the oven. Gastronomically, the picnic was a huge success, but socially it seemed very cliquey + a bit dull. On the way back we picked up Larry’s car – He’d driven his boat there + was trapped by the tide – and I drove it to Auke Bay for him (he could get there) then he dropped us back.
In the evening, after relaxing for a while, we went out on the town, despite the fact that the weather had broken + it was very grey + was soon chucking it down. The 1st bar we tried was too crowded, so we went to the Red Dog – that was great, real spit ‘n sawdust, then a much smoother place on the waterfront, + finally the Latchstring, more of a disco, where we met up with some of the picnic party. They had a live band playing disco music, incredibly loud, but we drank cocktails + had fun. A really good evening.
Hope that the final ringing endorsement cancels out the couple of expressions of negative feeling. It was hardly surprising that Steve should not be at his best, what with everything on his mind, and as for the picnic, well it’s hardly surprising that we should feel a little on the outside. And the food, indeed the opportunity to be even on the sidelines of such an event, was amazing.
As for the apparently raucous night out, I can only hope that Chickie laid off the booze, but I do recall her saying that the loud music may have had something to do with what was to come…
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