Breaking in Gently

A quiet day, we went to the Horizon Club for the free breakfast after a bit of a lie-in. This meant that only two hours before the major lunch date Alice was steaming through a huge plate of mixed Asian and western breakfast foods. I thought it was good that she was not planning her tennis with friends today!
At midday we were sitting in the Lemon Garden, awaiting our friends, and how nice it was that we were able to see them, and at such a wonderful eaterie. I am not a fan of buffets, but I do like the Lemon Garden, the wide choices, the way only small batches of things are put out so constant replenishment of freshly cooked items is the order of the day. My beloved belly can react rather nastily if the food has been hanging around too long, so this is perfect for me.
As was seeing our friends. Alistair and James were immediately paired off, Alice and Sherri started a nonstop gabfest that meant the lunch lasted for some thing over four hours, Cheong and I discussed horrid illnesses and sorted out the world, and Jasmine joined in the chat of either the ladies or the men at will. Well, not quite true, the speed of information transmitted between the biddies meant she was forced more to us. Not that that was a problem, she is becoming a remarkably sensible young lady and, in spite of my dislike of youth in general, was a great pleasure to be with. For some reason she considers herself non-photogenic, and as you can see has developed the fastest hand in the world. Even if Annie Oakley had been in town I would still have put my money on Jasmine as the faster draw. In fact she later allowed a couple of group photos, but I omit them in view of her feelings concerning her being on public display.
They were kind enough to take Alistair back for a while and Alice and I did nothing, but the lunch had taken so long it was soon time for free drinks and things again. We could not manage much to eat and I retired to bed having enjoyed somewhat too much alcohol and also the great pleasure of a long, long lunch with extremely charming people.