Drinks for the party were kept cool in an authentic 1950's coke fridge. Well, maybe not that authentic. ....In fact maybe it was an old 50's fridge that Simon knocked the motor out of, tipped on its side, spray painted red, and stencilled with a Fleury Cola logo using a coke font downloaded from the internet.

All food was retro and decorative. It included devils on horseback, a savoury tomato jelly mould, and boiled eggs masquerading as penguins. At the end of the day, when everyone was drunk, Tex sneaked in and ate these, toothpicks, olives and all.

Simon's sister Tanya was over from New Zealand at the time of the party. She insisted on arriving at the party in Simon's 1963 MG as it was an essential part of her costume. Tex insisted on arriving as well, because he thinks we bought the car just for his outings.

Pretty soon, the retro cd's were outand things were getting messy.

Told you things got messy.

Simons birthday present to Fleur was a 1950's, American midwest Porch swing he knocked up out of some bits and pieces lying around in the shed. On the day he presented it to her with a flourish, she went to bed early, and Simon and Paul sat on it drinking homebrew until 2 am. See, everything can be related back to beer.

The dogs figured it was too hot to party, and Martyn tended to agree.