last friday night

he

 He stayed home with his very good pal, known as 'Tickle'. After bed time, she sent a text saying, "He was so good for me, including doing a big poo just after I put his nappy on! Sleeping soundly." So we thought that this bottle of wine was an appropriate 'thank you' gift. 

me

It was B's end-of-year work dinner. We wondered what 'smart casual' implied, but decided it surely meant 'bright green polka-dot dress' for me and 'jeans and the first button-up shirt you can find' for B. My Mom, on a birthday skype beforehand, said "Wear shoes and brush your teeth, the rest is optional". She's so wise! There were many more people with shoes and sparkling white teeth than there were in green polka-dots. It was at an Italian restaurant at Portside. The river is stunning at night. It was a strange evening of sitting with strangers who we were mostly unable to converse with (it was so noisy that I struggled to hear even the people closest to me - does that mean I'm getting old? I mainly spoke with a lady from Iran, and was disappointed that we couldn't chat properly, as she clearly missed 'home' and liked sharing her memories) but the food was very, very good, and - when successful - the (mostly lip-reading and hand-gesturing) conversations were nice.