A couple of years ago Jayne and I went to the Black Swan in Pease Pottage for New Year’s Eve and had a great time. Although it is not in Broadfield it is our local as it is a tad closer to us than the Imperial Arms.

Being so close we walked there and did not have to worry about having one of us staying sober. There was a casino set up in the restaurant room and everyone had a voucher for a certain number of chips. Whoever had managed to turn the initial pile into the biggest amount by the end of the evening won a prize. Most of us blew it all pretty quickly – a valuable lesson of the dangers of gambling learned with play money.

There was a buffet which was enormous, impressive and a bit annoying for us – we had expected standard party food so we had already eaten: what we found was two long tables groaning with hot and cold food, including a whole smoked salmon, salads, trifles and lots of other goodies. There was a movie theme and all the staff and some regulars were in fancy dress.

We had a brilliant time, got chatting with a few people there and at the end we walked home.

Last year we went back and it wasn’t quite the same, but that may be for personal reasons – we had a friend with us and the dynamics of three people out together is not quite the same. All the elements were there as before, we just did not enjoy it as much.

This year we went back again and it was probably the longest 5 hours of my life. This time we took the kids along as they were all home and Jayne’s parents came along too. Being in a group like that means you are unlikely to mix with other people of course. Frankie was hardly with us as he works up there and was mixing with his colleagues even though it was his night off.

The organisation of the party was a bit different than before. For a start there was no casino to provide a diversion. The buffet was a lot smaller than on previous years with much less variety especially with the hot foods. The bread rolls were all too hard to eat without losing teeth. I had to get Frankie to go off to the kitchen to get some butter. These may seem like small things to complain about (and they are) but they all add up.

There was a raffle, everyone had a ticket with their entry ticket, but we were sat at the far end of the building from the disco so we did not know when it was drawn. We just heard rumours that it was going on. I went to have a look and got there just in time to hear the last number called out. Some people at the table next to os didn’t even know that. When last orders were called at 1pm (so much for 24-hour drinking!) they asked about the raffle and were quite surprised and upset to find they had missed it by several hours.

I’m sure it was a good evening, spoiled only by our expectations. The lesson is, of course, that if you ever have a perfect meal, holiday, party, or whatever you cannot recapture that time merely by going back to the same place. The small differences can spoil it out of all proprtion, even if they are actually improvements. Don’t try to re-live an old experience but go out looking for a new and different one.

Forward not back in other words – perhaps we should have paid attention to our election slogan after all. Next year we may well be in West Africa over the New Year so its likely to be just a bit different.