The weather usually plays a big factor in party plans. The trouble is that when it is several months ahead it is impossible to predict. So here we are surrounded by snow, drifting and swirling around. However the bookings are slowly coming in from people who have a vision that it will end and the sun will shine. It will indeed, eventually….
Last weekend we did what has now become a regular booking at St. Aldates in Oxford. We set off at 4.30 am. It was very cold, about -7 ° and the windscreen was needless to say very iced up. The roads were even more treacherous than usual. Once we got on the main roads it improved. We arrived in plenty of good time and did the usual set up. This venue always feels a bit strange in that we have to cook close to some graves and indeed the van is parked beside the church on grave stones. Oxford is lethal for bus lanes and parking. However the parking offered by the church is perfect and is the usual space – wonderfully close!
We started cooking at 6 to be ready for serving at 1.00pm. It is always worth being ahead when the weather is so cold. This time we had a couple of pigs and several joints to make sure that we were well covered.
We also had a couple of staff who had travelled independently using the park ‘n’ ride. By the time they had arrived we were all set up and had even had a cooked breakfast.
We were very fortunate that although it was bitterly cold we were in the dry. In fact the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky. The on problem being that we were in the shadows of the church which made it very cold, but rather pleasant in the sun.
Surprisingly all cooked in good time and by midday we were starting to carve the joints with the pigs being raised soon after. We let the girls do the set up which was from three points in the church. All was ready and perfect for the serve time of 1.00pm. It makes it so much easier when the team is one that know exactly what to do. Also it is an event we have done 5 or 6 times and so the system has been established. It is made all the easier since the church staff prefer to serve themselves, and we just back up each station. Proof was in the pudding , because half an hour later we had started to clear down and by 3.00pm we were all loaded back into the van. This was all excellent news since we would be back in time for the rugby – six nations (although the result was disastrous) .
Hopefully we will be back again….