4 Lodge Road was a perfect house for entertaining. Most of it took place in the evenings: practically every Saturday night we either had people in to dinner or we were out at a friend's house. The parties we held often ran on into the wee small hours, this in the days when people were still drinking and managing to drive home afterwards.
Sadly, or perhaps fortunately, there are few pictures of those evening parties but one of the children recorded this one, which I remember as one of the most enjoyable. It took place one weekend lunchtime and, if my hazy memory serves me, ended late in the evening. The picture shows me with my mother and Liza Donaldson - and my bird table.
Unusually, this party had a purpose - to help rid us of some of our accumulated home-made wine. We made wine from a variety of things, including blackberries (one of the best), red and black currants, bananas, wheat, elderflower, damsons and plums. We had demijohns constantly on the bubble in front of the sitting room fire, and the resulting bottles were stored in racks under the stairs where, every now and then, one of them exploded.
The idea of the party was that everyone had to identify the wine in each of ten numbered bottles. The plan didn't last long.
My father, shown here with Douglas Watson at left and neighbour Graham Mott at right, took one sip of our excellent vintage and insisted on having a whisky. I print this terrible photograph - I suspect by this point that whoever was taking the pictures had already decided to enter the competition - because the evidence of my father's wrecking tactics is on the table and in Douglas' right hand. I'm not sure we even got as far as seeing who had made the most correct identifications. It was a lovely afternoon, we had excellent company, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
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