We had been told the party would start between 8.00 and 8.30pm. 

It was pretty hard to convince Mick that we should not get there too early; we had to last until midnight. 🎉

The chef’s wife was very surprised to see us at the bar at 7.15pm (I could not convince Mick to delay any longer), but she said it would be fine to have a drink and that dinner would be served around 9.30pm. 

That suited Mick, but we both wondered if we could last until then. These were the only other people there for the first hour …

… and they were helping to set up the sound gear. Mick was very surprised that none of them was drinking. Mick tried to not look too out of place and took a very close interest in the pétanque trophies; to help pass the next two hours. 

Around 9.30pm there were about a dozen guests and so the buffet commenced. 

It was a meat lover’s dream. 

More guests arrived for dinner as late as 11.00pm, and as it drew closer to midnight there was the inevitable countdown: “…, deux, un, zéro.”

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Then everyone started kissing everyone there, in a similar style to lining up to shake hands after a game of rugby, but instead of hand shaking there was both-cheek kissing. 

A woman kindly offered to take a photo of us. I am sure the fuzzyness was her fault. 

I safely drove us up the hill and we were tucked into bed by 12.30am. 

It was a great experience. 

Happy New Year 🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈