Patio Breezes

Last night, our choir sang at the Ordination of five new deacons. One of them was the lovely woman who has been at St John's for her internship. Happily, she will be staying with our parish now that she is ordained. The whole choir wasn't there, but we had good representation. The cathedral was beautiful, but man it was hot! The polyester choir robes probably had something to do with the perspiration factor, as did the intense lighting near the choir stalls.

Afterwards, I asked Weasley if he wanted to go for a drink somewhere. He had been losing his voice a bit and was plagued by a tickle in his throat which triggered a stifled coughing fit during the sermon. So, I understood when he begged off, since he was tired. At that point, Lord Elgin asked if we wanted to join him for a glass of wine on the patio of the establishment where he works. I said sure, but teasingly pointed out that "Weasley's too tired, though." Yep, we shamed him into joining us. It turned out that my car was blocked in, so Weasley drove. He was about to park a little up the street from our destination when Lord Elgin asked what he was doing. No, no, we had to park closer. In the tour bus parking at the hotel, in fact. Was there a rope to prevent people from doing this sort of thing? Of course, but that didn't stop us! It's great to know people with connections.

We sat on the patio, which was lovely. Would have been even lovelier had the fairy lights in the trees been on, but there was some sort of malfunction. Lord Elgin was NOT impressed (hmmmm, can we say lecture? I'm betting the maintenance guy was going to get a big one the next day!). Anyway, we each ordered a glass of wine (by the glass, as we all had different wines) and sat chatting. Weasley's best friend, Harry, came to join us, too. Yes, me and three men. Don't get too excited - that would be me and three gay men. And let me tell you, Lord Elgin has some pretty hilarious (and wild!) stories to share. He's a bit older than the rest of us, so he has a wealth of "back in the day" stories. I think it was about 11:30 when the party broke up.

Lord Elgin walked us to Weasley's car to get his stuff - no one wants to drag a choir robe to the patio. This is when we discovered that Lord Elgin had forgotten to tell anyone at the establishment that we had parked in the tour bus parking. Thankfully, the car had not been towed, or even ticketed. But there was a warning about towing in the future. Unfortunately, it had been taped, with a load of Scotch tape, to Weasley's window. And the paint on his car. (yes, someone else would be getting a lecture the next day - fine to put the warning, but potentially damaging someone's paint is very bad indeed). Anyway, Lord Elgin walked the block and a half home, Weasley and I dropped Harry at his place, and then he brought me to my car. Both of us decided that we were hungry (salad for dinner many hours earlier doesn't hold up through all that singing), so we met up at the Golden Arches and grabbed a burger before heading to our respective homes.

Oh, and somewhere between the cathedral and home, my cell phone has disappeared. Argh! I'm hoping it's rolling around under the seats in Weasley's car. Hide and seek, anyone?