partners' club, woo hoo!

Life is just one big thrill after another...this morning I went to the partners' club meeting (two months running now - a personal record). It wasn't that I especially wanted to go (generally speaking I would rather stick pins in my eyes), but I had promised the nice Brazilian lady who lives down the road that she could come in and sell her necklaces, and I had to host her.

It was the usual exciting stuff. The thing is, I know that there's some major bit of gossip going on, and although I try not to get involved in all the internal politics of camp and the partners' club, I would secretly like to know. I guess I'll find out six months after everyone else, as usual. I was trying to look at people's body language to find out who has fallen out with whom, but I'm a bit thick at that sort of thing. Has the Gurkha Major's wife fallen out with the Chief-of-staff's wife? Does the RSM's wife have an issue with the community nurse's husband? Have I comitted some heinous faux pas myself, and is everybody upset with me? I will probably never know...Hubby will say that this is a good thing, and that we shouldn't concern ourselves with petty rivalry and bitchiness. He may be right, but I do wish I had a reliable source to tell me what's really going on!

At the meeting we had a briefing from the ASU people.( I don't actually know what ASU stands for, but army types do love their acronyms - assorted stripey underpants perhaps?) Anyhow, the ASU are the people in charge of army furniture, etc. There was almost a riot when one wife put up her hand and asked when her dishwasher could be plumbed in. Dishwasher? Since when did the army start issuing dishwashers? None of the rest of us have dishwashers! And was it just because she was the OC's wife and got preferential treatment?! The rumblings were reaching volcanic proportions when it transpired that it was in fact her own dishwasher that she had had shipped over from the UK. Moreover, the ASU were refusing to plumb it in because dishwashers consume far too much water, and as there's a perennial water shortage here it's just not allowed. Phew! Everyone seemed happy at last (apart from the poor woman who's brought her dishwasher thousands of miles only to be told she can't use it and will have to use the kitchen sink like everyone else).

The topic then moved on to gas pressure in cookers, and whether we should be replacing all the light bulbs with energy efficient ones or waiting until the old non-efficient ones burn out. It all got a bit heated (unlike the cookers, apparently).

I'm still pretty happy with the marble-floored mansion in which we live, and I don't really care too much about ovens and dishwashers as we have a cook. Oh well, sometimes people like nothing better than a cup of coffee and a good old moan, I suppose.

At least my nice Brazilian neighbour was happy because she sold lots of necklaces (I bought one myself in fact - anything to detract from the kerfuffle about dishwashers, light bulbs and cookers).

I may not attend the next meeting. However, I've heard that the silversmith might have a stall, so I could be persuaded...

xxx