Pyrford Lock

Last night the Summer Ball at my older sons' school was excellent - the committee of mothers who organised it did an excellent job, from the very pretty theme of white and silver (a huge white marquee draped with white fabric ceilings, silver candlesticks) to the delicious food, the amazing funk band and the fun company, it was all in all a great evening.

I think the highlight for some people was the vodka luge (a huge ice sculpture of a horse's head through which a narrow plastic pipe had been set and vodka was poured down the one end which came out into your waiting mouth attached to the pipe on the other end). This was strategically placed near our table so we could watch who came up again and again for a shot of vodka and who was three sheets to the wind by halfway through the evening. All very good value for money and no profit made by the school, just a fabulous evening in which the costs were covered by the price of the ticket. I think when some people realised that the vodka luge was for free....well, they were queuing up before this great horse's head, on their knees and slurping for all they were worth. It is funny watching some normally controlled people getting pissed and behaving like teenagers on the dance floor. Everyone made an effort to get all dressed up which was fabulous to see.

So after a very late night for us, we had to get the two the older boys to school as they had all day orchestra rehearsals for two big concerts coming up this week, being the last week of term. Coincidentally, Thomas had rehearsals all morning for his West Surrey orchestra and we went to his concert at 3pm which was very entertaining, and amazing to see such talented children performing. In between dropping him off and going to the concert, Gavin and I had a little walk around Pyrford Lock and then had a pub lunch at this pub, The Anchor. It is in the most lovely setting, where we could watch the barges entering the lock and enjoy the glorious weather. I would recommend it to anyone as an excellent day out as the walks along the canal are very pleasant.