Champagne soirees and fond farewells

4:48pm Wednesday 22nd October 2008

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If there's one thing I've learned, after attending a private viewing of an art exhibition last night, it's that free champagne is a dangerous thing.

It was a solo show at the Arndean Gallery from a local artist, whom I interviewed some weeks back, featuring pastel works of famous people. Naturally, I was there to write up a feature on the show but there were, of course, other attractions.

Being in Piccadilly, where the people are posh and the prices are high, the champagne was liberally supplied by somewhat excessively helpful caterers, who offered to top up people's glasses at every turn. Not wishing to appear rude, I accepted two refills and found myself feeling decidedly funny when the cold evening air hit me later on.

That aside, it was an entertaining experience. At upwards of £900 each, there was no chance of buying anything, but the work was interesting and aesthetically pleasing, and it was fun to mingle with the très sophistiqué Piccadilly/Mayfair types. It was also nice to be able to present the bouncers (yes, there were bouncers. It was that posh) with my invitation, admitting both me and my boyfriend, in spite of our less-than-well-heeled attire.

In other, completely unrelated news, there have been some interesting developments in the whole filthy streets adventure. The first of these, as some people will know, is the petition to have Kier kicked out as street service providers and brought back in-house. How successful this will be remains to be seen but it's certainly something to keep an eye on. The other developments include fly-tipping in Folly Lane and a house whose owners might be a tad bit surprised to be issued with a notice, warning them they face prosecution for leaving a large amount of household detritus in the front garden. It's all go here, I tell thee.

Between that and several news stories that came in all at once, it's been a fairly busy few days. We've still had the Wednesday afternoon downturn (featuring an impromptu dance routine from EOE) but it will be a real boon to go on holiday next week.

Finally, this week, we bid farewell to Pat Stannard, long-time editor and keeper-in-liner of trainee reporters. Her insight and guidance over these last five or six months have been absolutely invaluable and I honestly don't know what we'll do without her. Pat, I know it's all been said before, but the Waltham Forest Guardian and indeed the whole newsroom will be the poorer without you. I hope you'll keep in touch.