Marianne's Gang - Christmas Lunch

The following account of the gang’s latest jaunts was written by gang member Lotrfan, I would like to say thank you to San Rocco, Valsi and Missy for making the effort to come and join us and helping make our first Christmas a very enjoyable and memorable one.



To Richard, we all say a huge thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule and taking part in the merry making gang lunch, the girls think that you are the best Santa they have ever seen and thought all their Christmases had come at once.

So now read on and enjoy:

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We know you’re dying to know what Marianne’s Gang have all been getting up to, so here we go. Tuesday 25th November, twelve of us arrived at the Fortuna, the usual crowd and some new visitors: a special mention to San Rocco from Christchurch and Missy from Rotorua. A dazzling time was had by all, and I do mean dazzling. Everyone was exhibiting the Christmas spirit in their attire. Christmas fascinators abound, Valsi shone in her hair-band with silver balls bouncing around her head, LadyP and Mamamia with sparkling red butterflies - just look at the pictures – too many to mention. Then, of course, there was Sparrow who turned up flashing coloured lights from head to toe, and her baby-doll nightie over her ensemble. As usual we had a lot of laughs and, fortunately, any men who had gone there for a quiet lunch found themselves accosted, but none of them seemed to mind at all and joined in the fun.

We had a tasty lunch, pulled the Christmas crackers and popped our party poppers: streamers shooting everywhere. Then, our very own Richard turned up. We have to be careful what we say now, because we don’t want to give him a big head, now do we girls? Mamamia was quick to stick the Santa’s hat on his head and give him the secret Santa sack, so we all took turns sitting on the poor guy’s lap and having photos taken while we got our pressie. He took it all so well, and that charming smile never slipped.
     
After about two hours we noticed the waiting staff lurking around and everyone else had gone, so we left for a fifteen minute flutter in the casino: Sparrow was the lucky one. As we loitered around near the entrance we were approached by Jackpot Joe, who is quite a comedian: not like his boss who couldn’t raise a smile and sent us all packing into the foyer to have our photos taken.  JJ, he gave LadyP permission for us to call him that, wanted to know all about us and so did a few other people. So we told them about GrownUps and Mamamia handed them some leaflets that Richard had left, so before we all went home we did some promotion work, too.

San Rocco wasn’t going back to Christchurch until late on Wednesday so anyone who wanted to could meet Mamamia and San Rocco at Mission Bay for lunch. Apart from those two ladies there was LadyP and myself, Lotrfan. The weather was beautiful so we sat on the sea-wall chatting for a bit then went across to order pizzas. Mamamia bought hers at Mamma Mia’s - how could she not? LadyP dined on prawns. We sat by the beach, again, stuffing our faces and chattering and enjoying the sunshine.

The third impromptu meeting was on Saturday at Albany Shopping centre. Muffinz and Flossey were driving up from Hamilton to meet their friends, and Georgie, Georgie’s daughter, Yvonne, Mamamia, Sparrow and me went along, too. This time we headed to a nice restaurant called Bolero to dine alfresco. Flossey and Muffinz have the same zany sense of humour as the rest of us, and fit in like another pair of matchsticks.  

Sparrow was playing up so much that Mamamia tied her to the chair then gagged her with serviettes and the waiting staff helped her out by giving Mia a few more serviettes so she could do a good job. A lot of joking went on and it was funny to see Georgie and her daughter trying to outdo one another with the wine. Tut-tut. We made a fuss of Hessian, the yummy waiter who brought the coffee, to the extent he came to the table and asked if we wanted coffee or cuddle. Yvonne says he owns a Turkish restaurant in town.

It so happened that we were there on the day they had a celebrity singer and a school choir singing Christmas songs and we had a front row seat where we were. It was a lovely end to a beautiful outing with friends. Can’t beat that, can we?

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