Party Night

Well, it's over and, carrying on the song title theme, oh, what a night!

By teatime, I had convinced myself that it was all going to be a disaster; no people there, laptop spontaneously combusting , me being tarred and feathered for daring to impersonate an entertainer etc, etc. It's a funny thing though, when I got there I felt totally calm and ready. Even when one of my speakers was more silent than a Trappist monk with laryngitis, I remained calm. This was primarily because, as my electrical knowledge is so totally non-existent, I knew that I could do nothing. Fortunately, the band were setting up and Geoff, the bass player, came to offer some techie advice and swapped a few cables round. His knowledge, and some neat rewiring by Katie's brother, meant that I was once more full stereo and ready to go. The pub had been decorated, people were there, chef Nathan had a buffet prepared so all was ready.

Katie was due about 8 so I put some music on autoplay and sat on the terrace with a pint of Mr Carling's liquid Valium. Was it my imagination or did I see groups of young ladies casting admiring glances in my direction? Could it be my mature good looks or the lure of basking in the reflected glory of the DJ? Ooh, talking of reflection, I realised that they still had the delight of the gold sequin shirt which I was saving for just before the grand entrance.

We got a hurried phone call - target sighted! ETA 10 minutes. I was in the middle of a discussion about a stage name at the time and someone had just suggested DJ Gray-veYard (a bit hurtful, I thought) so I hurried upstairs to change and came down to looks of astonishment and comments such as "F*** me, it's a walking Glitterball". Realising that my credibility had just been blown sky-high, I launched Celebration by Kool & the Gang as Katie turned up. Bless her, she had absolutely no idea of the surprise and her face was a picture,

Fortunately, all the equipment worked more or less perfectly so the band and I alternated the music for the next 3 hours. Tasteless, who'd donated their services, were, as usual, superb and even I was up and dancing. It's probably been about 10 years since I last danced but I was reluctantly dragged onto the floor (thanks, Kelly!) and had a whale of a time.

Suddenly it had turned into a real party and it was therefore time to go in for the kill! Macarena, Mambo No.5, Timewarp etc all came out in quick succession and everybody was having fun. I realised that I was relaxed (and probably a tad over-imbibed) when I had an overwhelming urge to sit on the floor with everybody else and join in Oops, Upside your Head !!

Anyway, cutting a long story short, I reluctantly finished at 1am and finally got away at about 2.30. It was a great night and I felt good at having done my bit to contribute to a successful evening. Since I retired, I miss challenge and the actual achieving of success. I'm also not very good at enjoying success but I have to say I went home well satisfied, especially as I was offered a fortnighly Friday night DJ slot! Still not sure whether I will do it but it's nice being asked.

So, the saga of the Party Night is over and now it's time to prepare for our trip to London for the Stones concert tomorrow night. Wonder if they want a DJ?