{"id":783,"date":"2009-12-21T14:58:48","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T14:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/?p=783"},"modified":"2009-12-22T08:14:28","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T08:14:28","slug":"lord-arrowby%e2%80%99s-party-is-the-climax-of-the-pre-christmas-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/?p=783","title":{"rendered":"Lord Arrowby\u2019s Party is the Climax of the Pre-Christmas Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday 21st<\/sup> December 2009<\/p>\n

8pm. Saturday. Lord Arrowby\u2019s party. We end as we began in a gleaming London warehouse apartment that murmurs \u2018finish, finish, finish.\u2019 Or rather screams. Two weeks ago at Ned Czernowski and Peter Acharya\u2019s the smooth ascent to Christmas began; now in Lord Arrowby\u2019s ballroom-sized living space, we dock peacefully but ecstatically on the upper slopes.<\/p>\n

Not for nothing does Lord Arrowby run the country! He\u2019s in government circles, you know; breakfast meetings with the Home Sec, shaping long-term policy, identity cards possibly. Nobody really knows.<\/p>\n

And looking radiant for his party. No hint of party nerves. Blazing blue eyes, rich bronzed glow, tight, whippy trousers and a bold shirt stopping short of Hawaiian. Lord A loves a party shirt. Rufus Pitman, the critic and novelist, said, \u2018Is that cerulean?\u2019 I think it was. Cerulean quite a theme. The Blond Multi was astonishing and stunning in a three-piece suit in corduroy of that colour. The Photographer Multi and Rufus Pitman were sumptuous in velvet smoking jackets, the Multi\u2019s from Brighton market, Rufus\u2019s from a specialist and very rare shop.<\/p>\n

What arrangements!\u00a0 What administration! Two waitresses, but that\u2019s the wrong word. One was ash blonde, elfin, tiny, the other black-haired, statuesque, could have been a Spanish donna – \u00a0both entirely artificial, excellently contrasting and very efficient. Cascades of canap\u00e9s, pastries ordered specially from Borough Market, champagne glass never empty \u2013<\/p>\n

With the result, you know how it is at parties… \u00a0conversation careered rather with the tiniest tinge of paranoia. I just hope I didn\u2019t say anything wrong.<\/p>\n

Finally reunited with Reginald Cresswell, the Ghanaian ceramicist, not seen for six months. He has been slaving over a very complicated ceramic with human figures in it and possibly moving parts and chandeliers. In and out the kiln. To be unveiled in 2011. \u00a0Our topic: Althorp. It\u2019s a stately home. Google if you\u2019ve never heard… He has a ceramic there \u2013 in the private apartments. \u00a0Me: \u2018Rather dreary facade.\u2019 Reggie: \u2018I don\u2019t think so.\u2019 Me: \u2018Rows of windows.\u2019 No idea what that was supposed to mean. Not been there for years. Reggie: \u2018It\u2019s an important house. Do you want to see a picture of my bedroom there?\u2019 (produces phone). Me: \u2018View from the windows rather dreary.\u2019<\/p>\n

Something had to be dreary.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no escape, Poor Little Rich Gays do cover a range.\u00a0 Rufus Pitman and the Photographer Multi: art and perfume. Rufus is to be a judge of a very famous modern art prize next year. The winner is usually a video or Grayson Perry. He is going to nominate some quiet water-colourists. Meanwhile he has at least 15 different fumes in stock. Shamefully I can\u2019t recall which he was wearing. It might have been the one he formerly described as \u2018clever but odd.\u2019<\/p>\n

Someone else, said to be Mexican, was delving into gay and straight sex, compare and contrast. Had met a straight couple; the man in a \u2018Scottish skirt\u2019 and nothing else (now hands over ears if you\u2019re dainty) expressed an enthusiasm for dildoes. Maybe more to straights than we had thought.<\/p>\n

Anthony Mottram (yes, over from Prague!) and the Blond Multi were absolute head in papers: takeover bids, exit strategy, multiples to be paid or not paid \u2013 both businessmen, you see. Mottram Corp soon to be up for sale, the Blond Multi having already sold, hence a Multi, although, in fact, a Multi in all sorts of other ways.<\/p>\n

Intriguing tit-bit re: Smallmeal wends its way. Massivebury running costs \u00a310,000 a week, frightful drain on the Smallmeal wage-packet \u2013 he\u2019s an employee, if you remember.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder he has to go to Waitrose.<\/p>\n

But you\u2019d think his side-line in the Central of Europe where he appears often as avuncular figure in roadside ads for processed cheese would bring in a bit.<\/p>\n

For a while I study Lord Arrowby\u2019s enormous cooker. Six rings. Huge oven. It must have come with the apartment for he doesn\u2019t cook. Just pies from Borough Market heated up for the occasional solitary supper with head in papers.<\/p>\n

Will I ever preside at that stove, offering something appetising, refreshing and decorative to a lordship shattered by a frantic day running the country?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably the wrong approach. If Lord A is not interested in food, he is not interested in food.<\/p>\n

But on the other hand, he is! I\u2019ve heard him being frightfully discriminating about restaurants.<\/p>\n

You just never know, do you? Especially with Poor Little Rich Gays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday 21st December 2009 8pm. Saturday. Lord Arrowby\u2019s party. We end as we began in a gleaming London warehouse apartment that murmurs \u2018finish, finish, finish.\u2019 Or rather screams. Two weeks ago at Ned Czernowski and Peter Acharya\u2019s the smooth ascent to Christmas began; now in Lord Arrowby\u2019s ballroom-sized living space, we dock peacefully but ecstatically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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-783","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\/783","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}