Men, What Not To Say To Your Sweetheart While She Gets Ready For A Formal Do.

The behind the scene stuff...

Eisenberg had its firemen's ball last night and we went although I have to say that Bob was on duty. Oh yes, that is the one function a year that only the men organize and see through.

It's been whispered that as a fireman you have to work your way to the top jobs. Bob, as the Baby ( in rank ) had to spend his shift collecting and washing the empty glasses which as you can imagine,was a jolly lot of work. But don't feel too bad for him yet, as he had the best seat in the house and if I were to question him about what the ladies wore, he would know the answer...and of course which lady wore to little too!

The last few days have brought a treacherous mixture of snow, sleet, sunshine, more snow and some rain along with the dreaded freezing temperatures. As idyllic as it sounds, it does transform an ordinary road into a highly slippery ice rink.

The ball started at eight but Bob had to be on duty from seven and as we only travel in pairs that meant that I would have to be ready for the seven bells timeline. The hall is only two kilometers away, two minutes by car or ten minutes on foot, when it isn't icy. Yet, my darling husband didn't want to leave anything to chance and was pacing like an agitated racehorse twenty minutes before.

Bob, of course had only to put on his dress uniform, give his hair a tweak here and there and ready he was. Not content with placidly awaiting his princess to transform from day to evening wear, he committed the mortal sin most husbands like to commit.

He counted down the time frames as if I was in a match of sorts and here comes the good part, when I emerged from the bathroom for a final swirl and hoping for an appropriate ooh, aah & wow, he had the cheek to ask me:

" Are you going to wear this shirt? "

...talk about a deflated balloon. Naturally I did the right thing and retaliated by faffing about longer than necessary which had him do another one of those sinful comments:

" If you're not ready in 5 minutes, you can walk there." Look, after a few years together you learn to call their bluffs and issue your own threats...

" Fine by me, there is a nice film on TV anyway! "

We finally got our show on the road and arrived at seven o'clock on the dot and as I suspected, we were the first ones there. For the next fifteen minutes, I might add.

When the function did start, it was jolly good fun and I was surprised to notice that for once I had partied from one month right into the next. Bob and I left an hour into February and as late as this was for me, we were the first to leave and even as I write this, the party might still be happening either as a formal evening ball or as an overdressed breakfast venue.

Biggi