The other side of the story....

There is always another side to the story..let's be honest. To start with, the quiz was practically finished and I only had to add the music round, and I put in a history round, cos when I looked at the quiz (finally!) I thought we were a round short. And as for the Who Wants to be a Millionaire round at the end, he said that was done and the Power point presentation bought up to date, so all was ok. I also did a celebrity picture round for the tables..that was good fun...

The day ended up hectic instead of the easy day I thought, with Laa needing a lift into town as she had a flat tyre, but at least I got to see the wedding ring, and we had brunch out, and shopped a great deal, and suddenly it was almost 4pm and time to take chairs to the hall..and I still had some printing left to do, had to e-mail the pics round from my laptop to the pc for printing, and it didn't arrive, then the printer played up..so when he rang to say he had left Sussex and was on his way, and to check I had gone to meet Chris and pick up the fully loaded landrover, I had to admit I was running late, last minute printing etc etc and I sounded just like him..we are similar really, let's face it...

Anyway picked up Chris and Landy only 10 mins late (which hardly counts) and we unloaded into the hall (we parked in the Disabled Bay, which is usefully right next to the steps up to the hall.....think about it...) and started getting ready. Half an hour later, on the dot of 6.45pm as planned, he walks in, and I give him a big hug as I am very pleased to see him. He immediately does techie things with Chris, playing with the laptops and graphic projector and soon we have up on a big screen, welcome to the H***S***t Quiz, as he has personalised the presentation for this evening. Bless. We even add the charity logo, and we are all on good form and laughing already. I feel tonight will be a good one.

Soon the music is playing (I created an Itunes playlist especially for the evening) and we have 77 people in 10 teams, the hall is full and the quiz gets underway.

It went down amazingly well, people lvoed it, he and I took turns to ask the questions, and amid the banter and double act stuff that only he and I do, when on form, there is much laughter..especially when he is asking the questions and getting on famously with the audience..I turned to Chris and said, it is fun doing a quiz with David...he is so good...and Chris replied, yes, he has charisma..with the emphasis on the he...well, thanks Chris, I used to like you...

At the end the winning team selects one member to come forward for the Millionaire round, by which time I am relaxed and in my stride and getting laughs too as I introduce the enormous prizes.... unfortunately the man's lack of knowledge as to whether the clangers or the smurfs ate blue string pudding means that he drops out at the third round..but the powerpoint presentation D put together, showing the questions,50-50 slides, and answers, is very slick and impresses.

Finally, the raffle, which we do as a comedy act, mostly because one prize involves a session with a hypnotherapist, which no-one seems to want to win, and I have also put in a charity 2007 diary which becomes the focus of the merriment, as I was offering diaries all the way through as prizes, as I over ordered and have some unsold....it was entertaining to see the diary and hypnotherapy prize left to the end, to see what people would choose..the diary went first...and there were sighs of relief when people knew they hadn't won the last prize...

We didn't finish until 11pm, but so many people came up saying it was the best quiz they had been to, so professional, with our PA equipment and screen...(really professional until D spilled his wine into the sound desk which was very funny..still it kept on working, and was still dripping white wine as we packed up at the end...)

Even Clive, who is generally critical, said it was good and our hard work had paid off..the level of quiz questions seemed ok and there was something for everyone....

While I was driving to pick up the landy earlier, D had rung me to assure me he had left Sussex and was on his way (he was staying almost 2 hours away....) I had been feeling kind and generous the previous day and had said he did not need to come back, that after a hectic week he should stay with The Men and relax...but he insisted on coming back...he was talking to me on the phone and reception was bad and I wasn't really listening as I was thinking of a dozen things..suddenly my attention was caught by him saying something about getting packed up quickly at the end of the evening, and packing an overnight bag and going back with him as there was a spare bunk at the youth hostel..my mind raced at being invited to join a Men's weekend, as the only woman, I thought someone might notice, but what fun...as I said, ok....but not really on, is it? D laughed and said no, not you, silly, I said I have invited Chris to come back with me...oh, I see, yes, that's a good idea...

So we packed the landy by 11.30pm, and the last thing D did was to reach into the glove compartment and take out a dark chocolate bounty for me as a surprise present, which I have eaten this morning while writing this...I lvoe them, and not everywhere sells them, they are quite hard to find, so a lvoely thoughtful present...

I waved Chis and D off into the night in the audi, knowing they would not reach the hostel til about 1.30am, but glad D was not driving back alone..standing in the church hall car park, as their tail lights disappeared round the corner, there was just that feeling of being alone after a lvoely evening....you know?? I wanted to be going with them...

Still, I delivered the landy back onto D's drive, narrowly avoiding scraping the wall as the gap is tiny and I haven't done that before...I loaded my boxes and bags into my little car, and wearily, with aching knees and back, drove home.

The other side of the story..regarding D, of whom I can be so critical..we met up twice on Monday, lunch time and evening to work on the quiz when he had a great deal of work to do for important meeting...he went to Yorkshire early Tuesday on the train so he could work on contracts for his morning meeting, but ended up on the phone to me for a lot of the time cos I wanted to talk and he listened, until 30 mins from York he said, I must go..I have to do some work, and I felt awful...he came back on the train to attend a church meeting he thought was important that night, then packed the landy with our kit at 10.30 at night...headed back up north at 5.30 next morning...he rang me everyday to see how I was cos he knew I was feeling low and also unwell..even tho he had difficult contract negotiations and the first board meeting of his new company to prepare for and attend...

Last week when I got upset about my parents and lots of grief stuff came back to hit me, he was working from home and stressed, but came in to take me out to lunch to make sure I was ok, even tho he didn't really have time....

So there are two sides to the story, and I am some times too needy and too demanding...I am sure you all also have stories of his kindness..and goodness, good job he doesn't read this blog...and in the end, he came back to do the quiz, it was brilliant fun and I had a great time. Tomorrow I will let you know how much money we raised.

Would I do it all again? You bet I would...we our available for quiz nights, discos, weddings (not Laa's) and barmitzvahs.....