{"id":11697,"date":"2026-07-04T16:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/?p=11697"},"modified":"2026-07-04T16:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:32:16","slug":"gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/?p=11697","title":{"rendered":"Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Saturday 4th July 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How quickly the threads unravel if not promptly bound in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had the garden opening on Sunday 21st June. In my poor mind it was more the house this year. I was determined that all the plastic light switches should be replaced with heritage brass in time for the opening, plus the front door re-painted, and the steps, chips to the interior woodwork touched up and, of course, the kitchen floor right at last. The windows were cleaned the day before. Nothing lifts the home and gives an air of wealth better than sparkling windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My hope was that visitors would see a better life that they, setting aside class hatred and bitterness, could reach for. Chandeliers, mahogany, gilt, silver and carpets could be theirs too, just with a reasonable application of the shoulder to the wheel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great thrill: at the last minute the Palace added Harry Rollo, Mercury Mr Kitten AND the Harry Rollo Official Mother to the list of private luncheon guests. So the drawing room was teaming with World Figures, Influencers, Chairs and Trustees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 2pm our great machinery of the Maharajah, Robert Nevil, Prince Dmitri and the Baroness Thockmorton roared into action and the Public were admitted. Somehow 11 lunched, 147 of the Public were received and 8 took a formal seated tea, the home remaining poised and styled all the while. This year I didn’t hire an extra pair of hands because the Maharajah didn’t like it and wished to perform at the sink himself – with the Baroness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday 16th June I attended the Chairman’s Annual Garden Party at Fulham Palace. Darling Matthew Bonfam was present with his consort, Kismet Sarawak. Their frockage is intensely floral and unfailing. I don’t know how they do it without a maid. Royston King was saying they should buy a home not rent. We really will have to see about an endowment for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Gay Mother’s I staged a luncheon at which I was not present, owing to having to be in our mine with miners, all of us in hard hats and hi-viz cap a ped. The styling and final presentation was left therefore to Cousin Hilaria. I did get back for the tail end and effectively lunched with the party. I couldn’t understand why there were lemon wedges on the plates. It turned out that the Gay Mother had wickedly added smoked salmon to the menu. Which was all very well, except the only bread was from the day before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it came to the serving of the pudding, there were scenes recalling the great contretemps over luncheon at Braemar Mansions. Who now remembers those Braemar Mansions days, when Ivy said to Margaret Jourdain at luncheon: ‘But it was agreed at breakfast that you would finish the bottle of Cydrax that is already opened rather than start on a new one.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, the Gay Mother wanted the blackcurrant puree, which she had made herself from her own blackcurrants, styled by me with the ice-cream to the side, not poured over. Then it turned out she meant more at 11 o’clock or maybe 10 o’clock. It was getting ridiculous. In the end, I flatly refused her commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not such luck with the Allium Karatavienese though. The bulb company sent me 12 of these for free last autumn. You do rather wish they wouldn’t reward large orders in this way. You’ve already got more bulbs than you can manage. I’ve never liked Allium Karatavienese but as it turned out they are quite architectural. Three were left over and I put them in the stone trough outside the Gay Mother’s back door, with some pinks. Returning from shopping one day, she said, ‘I don’t like them.’ She advanced on the trough: ‘You won’t mind, will you? I’m going to … ‘ and she pulled them out and flung them to the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Horrible Modern LED downlighters Removed from the Hall. The chandeliers now electrified <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Heritage Light Switches by Corston Going in <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Garden Open Day: the Private Luncheon. Paper Napkins! I know <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pre-Styled Luncheon at the Gay Mother’s <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our Mine <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our Mine: Needs Tidying <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday 4th July 2026 How quickly the threads unravel if not promptly bound in. We had the garden opening on Sunday 21st June. In my poor mind it was more the house this year. I was determined that all the plastic light switches should be replaced with heritage brass in time for the opening, plus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adrain-edge"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/111113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11697"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11709,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697\/revisions\/11709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}