Birthday Bonanza

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Birthday Bonanza

Hello, Friends!

Everything that could go wrong went wrong.

It started with gift hunting at noon. I almost died when I returned to Skalli and discovered that the necklace Anna said she liked only yesterday had already been bought by another customer.

Asia's Most Hyperactive Gay Boy™ with SCMP's Terri James

And then, HK$1,000 worth of sapphire-and-pearl helium balloons disappeared. Some popped under the heat of halogen lights; some simply flew up, up and away.

It rained. And it rained. And it rained.

"Amber" storm signal was hoisted an hour and a half before the party was set to begin.

I had decorated all the chairs on the deck with robin's egg and periwinkle ribbons. Wet, wet, wet.

I had to send kids to Park n' Shop to purchase another set of ballons.

"JAMES!!!," the girl shrieked over the phone, "only Winnie the Pooh balloons!"

"NO WINNIE THE POOH!!!" I shrieked back! "Look some more. Look HARDER!!!"

So the girl came back with candy-coloured balloons hat didn't quite match the "Monte Carlo" theme, but we started blowing into them anyway. The latex was so thin (these were cheap supermarket balloons that almost smelt like condoms), the balloons popped. And popped. And popped.

So we simply kept blowing on more.

Anna, the fab birthday girl, wears an Ines Klim frock

Just a bit before 7pm, the birthday girl arrived in a fluid minidress. Tables were set, drinks were ready. Photos were taken. Snap! Snap! Snap!

The first set of guests arrived just a few minutes after 7. Charles and Rick. Right on time. Family!

Charles Wong kicks back, as though in the Riviera

From then on, it was a dizzying flurry of arrivals! Air kisses! Flashbulbs! Music, music, music! We stared with house-y bossa, then samba, then disco.

As more vodka and wine flowed, rain stopped pouring.

And the party reached critical mass soon enough, spilling out onto the deck, then, onto the beach.

Allen Lam, Greg Crandall, Peter Sargant & lil ole me

I did get wet; it seems I went for a little dip. I can't say I remember any of it...

And, with the not-so-gentle ebb-and-flow of high tide on Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach, everything that had gone so wrong in the afternoon had been washed away.

It's Anna's brithday, after all. It's the start of a new era - one filled not with petty, little worries, but with the things that, in the end, matter more. Food! Good spirits! Love! Friendship! And an uncluttered enjoyment of life, simply for all the beauty it has to offer.

Happy Birthday, Anna!

With Affection,
James