Kelly and Eric have been friends with Chris for a long time, so they were part of the circle into which I was introduced when I first arrived here in Newport. Although we live in the same town and I literally pass their house every day on the way to work, we only see each other in person very occasionally nowadays. (We really must work on that!) As I was preparing to leave work last night, we received a surprise last-minute invitation to their house, where they had a few friends over for drinks and snacks. So I dashed home, picked up Chris and off we went. We had a very enjoyable hour or two, during which time we had some delicious homemade soup and a slice of birthday cake. Rude headgear was modeled from pipe cleaners, and Chris and I were able to introduce everyone to the delights of Mitchell & Webb’s marvelous ‘Touching Cloth’ sketch. All in all, a very successful evening.