Somethings in life are incredibly moreish. Like muffins. And topics.
In Harbour Place last Saturday afternoon we had buckets of both. No speeches, no evaluations, no evaluations of evaluations, just pure topic indulgence for a two hour blitz .
Two hours quickly became three, as members , gathered from different clubs, lost themselves in the timelessness of fun. Regular-style topics were followed by quick-fire rounds and then role plays which no-one wanted to end. In the zany world of bosses battling employees, passengers tugging hair on buses and mothers losing PHDs , no-one wanted to return to reality.
But back to the beginning. Harbour Place is a good place to be on a Saturday afternoon. Both hip and homely, a large selection of cupcakes, brownies and bikkies greeted us in the white-walled open space.
We tucked into the treats and into the topics. Anyone fancy a one-way trip to Mars with your muffin? Ah, no thanks, said Merrilyn. An Irish astrophysicist had recently signed-up for it but “being stranded with just one group of people for the REST of your life would be beyond belief” according to our VPED.
Rosie, however, ever fearless, reminded us to “Think of the pioneers!”. It could be exciting. And you’d never have too much clutter as you would only have what you’d brought. Talk about positive thinking. Rosie brought it to galaxies beyond our imagination.
Back on planet earth, Lesley-Ann’s favourite childhood game was marrying off the mop to the sweeping brush; Colette’s worst holiday experience was being stuck with a neat-freak and Jean-Marie’s favourite TV ad was the Pepsi one with Michael Jackson.
Stephen thinks that what’s under the bonnet matters, Anna-Marie would like to be a vintage Ford and Brendan cut curling ( the sport, not the hair-style) some slack.
A taste for the gruesome quickly revealed itself as always. Olivia’s friend wears blood-stained abatoir coats on a night out, Gerry fantasises about being Dracula on the dart, and Maria likes time to plan her revenge in cold blood.
Top prize for poor taste, however, goes to Gerry for his favourite sandwich spread. He totally grossed us out with his description of a banana and peanut sandwich left to fester in the fridge for days. “You can practically drink it”, he proudly proclaimed. Some of us nearly passed out but were quickly revived by a quick-fire round. With only thirty seconds to answer – does pronunciation matter? – sticklers, slackers, pedants and poets all had their say. Orla did a great dramatisation of various accents and Elaine is bemused by some people’s obsession with pronunciation.
Some of us had lives to get back to and eventually we called a halt. More muffins and more tea before we hit the road and, hopefully, before long another fantastic topics blitz at Harbour Place.
Fiona O’Meara, Guest Blogger