Off to Brighton for a birthday party

Except for my flatmates and cousin, my London life really is filled with English people. Most of my friends are English and (surprisingly) all but one of my colleagues is English. My neighbourhood is mostly English people too. It would be nice if this paid off with a sexy British accent, but it just hasn't happened.

Anyway, from time to time, it is nice to be a Kiwi again. And it's even better if I can be a Kiwi Kid - which is exactly what I got to do when Lucy and I visited Brighton for a birthday party afternoon tea for our friend Corinne.

Each guest was greeted at the door with a nametag based on kiwi icons. I ended up with boot polish (?!?!) and Lucy got the Four Square Man. It made for a good conversation starter, and once we'd all been christened it made for a sociable group:


Having stayed still long enough for a group photo, it was all action once pass-the-parcel broke out. As a cool Kiwi twist, Amanda used Salmonella Dub as the soundrack.

Our children's birthday party theme was undermined somewhat by the prizes (lollies shaped like boobs, 'grow your own mistress' toys, edible nipple tassles - and an inflatabled sheep as the first prize). But, it was all brought home by the yummy feast:


It's been ages since I had pavlova, and even longer since I've enjoyed lolly cake. The English girls seemed a bit astonished at the food we consider iconic, but once the sugar kicked in, it was smiles all round.

Everyone played nicely together for a few hours, and I left on a very pleasant food colouring and champagne-based high.