Mixing friends.

When worlds collide you never know what will happen. Don't worry about it PQ, it's all good.

Happy early Birthday and hoping everything goes well tomorrow.

I must have missed my invitation. Oh, well, happy birthday one day early PQ. Hope you have a good one.

would be the sort of person who would purposely say something naive or stupid in front of your uber left-wing political-activist flatmates, just to watch them squirm or completely lose it

Mixing friends can, indeed, be fraught for many reasons.


One reason is they tend, in my experience, to size each other up, a bit like dogs meeting, but with less bums on show. Especially the closest to you in each group.

It can go brilliantly...it can go badly.

Just remember, they will decide how much fun they have.

The worst I ever had was a Maoist and a Trot together. They fought so badly that the Trot, who was pregnant, accosted me in the kitchen, panicking that she had been aggravated into a mis-carriage.

A plague on both their houses!!!


Other times it's been tollicking good fun.

Good luck and have fun...and Happy Birthday!!!

Far from a feeling of dread that it's gonna go horribly wrong.... I would have a feeling of delight and anticipation. It is a party after all, and what is life without a little excitement! If someone else says something inappropriate and offensive to stir things up, it saves me the trouble.

Enjoy the fireworks.

Happy Birthday.

My brother and his wife had a Quaker wedding on an Indian Reservation.

Our uncle retired as an Air Force Colonel (he flew in WWII). He was quite a political person. His politics were pretty close to John McCain (although I respected him personally a great deal).

This uncle was proud of his military service and asked permission to come to the wedding in a full military (medals and all) dress uniform. My brother didn't see any problem with this.

Also attending the wedding was a Native American man, a leader and a Quaker. This gentleman was a militant pacifist (as many Quakers are) and apparently had quite strong opinions about US history and foreign policy. He was attracted to my Uncle's uniform like a moth to a candle.

The resulting discussion; where my Uncle (unsuccessfully) tried to explain to this gentleman how his military service was necessary to defend his right to be a pacifist, was quite interesting; half the onlookers were amused, the other half were horrified. But. after the confrontation, each man was unscathed and the festivities continued.

This is now a part of family lore, and of the memory of our Uncle.

Life is for living.

You say that's bad. Hah!
I bet you never had a Jewish Maoist and a very pro-Palestinian Trot, both angry Argentinian refugees.

Well, no.

Are we doing a competition?

We had an Algerian agronomist, though....foolishly brought home by my housemate, who crawled into her bed and had to be manually extracted by both of us, and driven home by me, as we both fended off his determinedly naked amorous advances from the back seat.

Had to tip him and his clothes out of the car outside his home.

I said if she did THAT again she was on her own.

Oh, Deb, that's a grand story, in retrospect.



My general advice to myself is never to have theater people, and only theater people, to a dinner party. Soliloquies abound, late into the night. Kind of like a game of Risk, if you know that board game. Or, bored game.

OK. I think that's unbeatable!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PQ - Have a wonderful day and enjoy your evening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope it all goes well for you and your mates!