Blimey! It's the 1950's!

Last night saw the culmination of months of work for my third fundraiser in memory of my mum for Age UK, Wandsworth.

Friends, family and strangers (some who came last year and are fast becoming friends!) donned their 50's finery and sang and danced their way back to the era of leather jackets, swing dresses and pedal pushers.

We raised just over £1,100 and I think everyone who attended would say that it was a night to remember - the pictures speak for themselves. As usual The Telgraph Pub, Putney, provided a great back-drop for the event and I look forward to working with them for next year's 60's night.

Special thanks go to my wonderful husband, my son and his fiancée, Mireille and Alan, Toby and my side-kick 'Fenella' - I couldn't have done any of it without you fabulous people.

Also, thanks to Emma at Age UK, who came with a couple of her friends and set the dance floor on fire with their glamour and moves!

 A rather picture-heavy blog, but these capture the mood of the evening:

College freshman and the Grease monkey

Fabulous Emma from Age UK and her posse

He had a gingham bow-tie on in that fur somewhere!

My baby!

The boys! He-e-e-y!!

Stunning cup-cakes from 'Fenella' raised £93

Grooving!

The table settings

Me and my men

Not quite Danny and Sandy!

The welcome stand that took me months and will now go to the dump.

Having a breather after air-guitaring

Waiting for the raffle

The 50's aren't complete without a pearly queen

Peggy, my mummy - the black and white photo of her was in the 50's on her honeymoon

Which karaoke number shall we do?

The raffle table

A rush to get ready but we made it!

Check out the 50's baseball boots!

Pretty in Pink

Karaoke for the brave ones

Tense raffle moment

A winning ticket!

Hubbie drilled a lot of holes through those records to make the mobiles

50's sisters

Age UK won the flowers but presented them to me!

Glamour pusses

My trusty raffle helper on the left

'Chrissie Cadillac' leads the revellers in a four-step

The dumped cabinet we found, transformed beautifully

They've got the Colgate look ...

With 31 prizes, the raffle takes forever

France, the French et moi!

Eight days and 1,500 miles later, we're back from our French holiday and I'm pleased to report that a fab time was had by Mr & Mrs Misfit and L'Alfster (our dog).  19 years of waiting for an overseas holiday was worth it and we've now explored Calais, Beaune, Valence, Uzès and Reims.

Lots of photos to follow but first a few anecdotes.

*  On arrival in Calais after braving the Eurotunnel (not too bad at all for a claustrophobia sufferer!) we headed off to the restaurant we'd decided to have lunch in.  Using my rusty French I asked if we could eat there with Alfie and we were led to a table where I asked for the menu. 'Steak, frites, salade!' I was told rather abruptly.  OK!  It looked like we'd be having steak then!  We still have no idea why everyone else in the other part of the restaurant was able to choose from a variety of dishes but put it down to the fact that it was a very French restaurant with no other Anglaise!

*  As we left the restaurant and headed back to our rather smart (borrowed!) car I gaily greeted it with, 'Bonjour voiture!' - only to realise that there was a French gentleman leaning out of his window.  He was greatly amused.

*  Again, braving the use of my French I successfully booked us into our first stop-over hotel in Beaune explaining that I was English but still managing to hold a decent enough conversation.  The receptionist however decided that when I asked if I could smoke on the balcony or outside that she would suddenly become my new best friend and speak English fluently!  'Of course!  Of course!  I'm a smoker too.  Not a problem!'  United by a foul habit!

*  Dinner in Beaune found us presented with a 69 page wine list!

*  Mr Misfit couldn't believe that the French word for swimming pool was 'piscine' - he seemed to think that would be an open invitation for abuse.

*  On leaving our hotel the following morning, Mr Misfit decided to attempt a bit of French himself.  'Bonsoir' probably wasn't his finest hour but he insists that was how she bid him farewell!  I somehow doubt it.

*  At a restaurant in Uzès with the friends we were staying with, I popped to the loo and heard an exasperated English mum in the next door cubicle with her son as he told her,  'Mum!  Mum!  I've peed all over the seat'.  When we met at the sink he went on to say, 'It's good isn't it, 'cos I can say what I like and no one understands me'.  I couldn't resist!  I looked at him with a cheeky grin and said, 'Except me!'  I've never seen a child disappear so quickly behind a mother as he shrieked, 'I thought she was French!'  The mother thought it was hilarious.

*  Walking back through the quaint backstreets of Uzès, Alfie decided to do what dogs do on pavements and we bent to put it in a poo bag - only to tread in a dollop that another dog had left!  We then heard from behind - from an English man - 'That was bad luck!' and his French wife added, 'When we saw you cleaning up after your dog, I commented, they must be English!'  It would seem the French aren't big on Pick Up Le Poop!

*  Playing one of our stupid games in the car - 1,500 miles is a long way - we decided on 'Would you rather?'.  I asked Mr Misfit if he'd prefer an extra nose on his forehead or one on his bottom.  His instant reply was on his bottom because he could cover it up.  Until the realisation of the smelly consequences hit him and he said, 'I didn't think that one through, did I?'  We laughed so hard, I lost most of my mascara and my stomach muscles were in spasms of agony.  Then every few miles, one of us would start chuckling and the whole Gigglefest would begin again. 

*  Our friends' beautiful house has steps and arches in unusual places.  We developed a new way of getting from room to room, especially at night, called The Uzès Walk - a kind of dip of  the head with an exaggerated lift of the feet.  Rather comical after a couple of glasses of rosé.

I managed to cross almost everything off my French Memories list:

* Citron pressé swiftly followed by an orange pressé

* Pernod and water

* Steak et frites

* Oeuf Russe

* Gallettes with cheese, ham and egg

* Crepes

* Rilettes and French bread

* Deliciously stinky cheese

* French apricots

* Les Croustilles aux cacahuètes - or as I like to call them' Peanut flavoured Nic-Nacs'

* Rosé wine with ice cubes - la piscine!

I didn't get the chance to savour mussels, tomato or celeriac salad but I'll save those for next time.

Our first stop-over in beautiful Beaune

.  Spot the dog!

Welcome drinks at our friends' place in Uzes.

My favourite doorway at their place

Their rather splendid pool

Morning coffee and a paddle

My favourite photo of me and Alfie heading into town

Delicious artichokes for lunch

Monsieur Misfit braved L'Escargots!

Clearly content with the French food, wine and company.

Heading back from town

Charming Uzes at night

L'Alfster by the pool.  He attempted the first step in but no further!

Every street is unique and pretty

Coffee in the sun

In Valence avec my French Poodle

Pool at final stop-over hotel in Reims. Not as grand as our friends' but very welcome in the heat.

Our holiday souvenir.  36 knobs to transform our kitchen.  Or Ker-nobs as the shop assistant pronounced them!

No Sun, Please - We're British!

OK.  We live in England.  I get that.  I also get that you can't plan anything around the weather - I haven't been a Londoner for over fifty years without learning that.  But when you've been planning an event for the end of July - after a heatwave - and the long-term weather forecast has been promising 'abundant sunshine' you kind of hope that you just might be blessed.

Nope!  The day dawned and we rose at 6am.  The sun was trying to poke through the clouds but a quick look at the weather forecast told us what we'd been dreading.  Rather than the gloriously sunny event I'd envisaged in the church grounds, we'd need to rejig and get the 40-odd stall holders inside the two halls.

Thank goodness we did, because from about 11am set-up time until the end of the fair, the skies opened and refused to relent. The poor bouncy castle/carousel man (who had paid me to be there!) didn't have one customer and the ice-cream van sold 2 ice-creams!

Despite that, locals braved the rain and paid their £1 entrance fee to enjoy the vast array of goods/activities I'd booked.  My stallholders all told me they had a great day and many have emailed to say how well it was organised - how they couldn't have smelt the panic from me or Mr Misfit, I will never know!

All in all, against the odds, it was a great day and we hit our £1K target, bar a couple of pounds.  Would I do it again?  If I lived in a country with a reliable climate, yes!  I loved every second of the organisation and the majority of the day but I can't do with the stress of weather-watching!  So, I think I'll be sticking to my evening events where we have a roof over our heads and the weather can do what it jolly well likes!

Massive thanks go to:

Costa Coffee - supplied 200 cups for tea/coffee
BannerBuzzz - free banner
Domino's Pizza - supplied staff and free pizza raising £67 for us!
Little House of Baking - donated £20 despite being unable to attend
Putney Women's Institute - donated half of their takings - £88.50

And love & thanks to:

Mr Misfit - for supporting my mad-cap idea and being as wonderful as ever.  Also for making 4 A-boards and two directional signs for under £2!
Ben & Kiki - for knitting (!) and running the kids' crafts / organising parking.
Elizabeth - for making 'Guess the weight of the cake' and doing a fab job of running the cafe and bar.
Virinder - for getting soaked on parking duty and general help.
Bee - for coming all the way from Cambridge, running a stall, washing up and mucking in.
Elaine - for selling almost all the jumble and making a child's day by donating her unicorn from the Tombola.
Marylou - for running the Tombola and winning / sharing the cake!
David - for getting soaked on the gate and engaging people with your winning banter!  Also for organising the kitchen for our after-event meal.
Victoria - for manning the cake/dog/sweet stall and looking after Alfie!
Toby - the little whirlwind!  Thanks for all that you did and for being so ready to help.
Johnny - for the muscle work, turning up so early and bringing Sarah to spend money!
Ann (my mum's vicar) - for letting us have the grounds and halls at a massively reduced price, for attending and for your donation.
Putney Man - for attending and for your generous donation.
Suzie - for setting up a table and buying nearly all the Prosecco!
'Fenella' - for your support leading up to the event and the ice-buckets and bunting.  Don't ever book a holiday again before consulting me!
And to all those who contributed who would like to remain anonymous.

When Mr Misfit put our signs up, the sun was still trying!

 

Our fantastic banner from BannerBuzz at the venue - the church where we married.

 

One DE-LICIOUS cake.

 

A-boards for under £2! - the cost of the hinges.

 

Hall One.

 

From another angle.

Front of Hall One.

 

From the back of Hall One.

 

Hall Two.

 

From another angle.

 

My lovely Twitter buddy, Bee, on the Mummy Misfit stand.

 

The BBQ in the rain!

 

Forlorn outdoors!

Putney Summer Fair

Those who follow my blog will know that I lost my mum last year and wanted to find a way to celebrate her life.  As a Putney resident for most of her life and a volunteer for Age UK's Be-A-Friend scheme (even in her 80's!) I decided that supporting Age UK, Wandsworth would be the most fitting way to pay tribute to her.

Last year's Vintage Evening was a massive success - you can read all about it here - and it spurred me on to hold a Summer Fair this Saturday 22nd July and a 50's Evening in November.

Years of organising school events has given me the experience but going solo has been a real learning curve.  Basically I need about 3 carbon copies of myself and Mr Misfit, along with the lovely friends who have volunteered their services on the day.

I'm feeling quietly confident, a tad frazzled, excited and terrified - all in equal measures.  I'm also doing regular sun-dances to ward off any threatening clouds.

So, if you're a Putney resident pop along and introduce yourself to the wild-eyed, manic one - I may well be in the bar!

 

Launch Day ... and a Misfit Mystery

As if you didn't already know, today is publication day for 'Gettting To Know Me' and I'm a tad excited.

But something has got me a bit hacked off.

A friend of a friend went to download one of my books based on recommendation, searching on my name alone.  Imagine her surprise when she found out that it was ... and I use this term lightly ... porn.  Exceptionally badly written porn.

Not only that, but this OTHER Amanda Egan has posted all of her trash on MY Goodreads page so, to all intents and purposes, they look like I've written them because they also link to my author profile.  Not good.

In trying to Google this elusive Amanda Egan, there is nothing - and I mean NOTHING - on the web about her.  Suspicious, huh?

We have now contacted Goodreads to ask them to trace the person who posted them on the WRONG page and in the meantime we have our detective hats on - something we're rather good at.

I wouldn't like to think that someone is doing this with malicious intent to damage my hard-earned reputation but if it turns out to be the case this person needs to know that we are like dogs with bones and they won't get away with it - and there will be consequences.

So ... readers beware.  I do not, and never will write porn or erotica and if I did, it would be a damned sight better than the dross this person is churning out.

Rant over!  Go download a decent read here and I'll get back to my sleuthing.