The Room Mix-Up

When we arrived at the hotel Friday evening, John asked some man where I was supposed to go. The man told me room 331. I went up to the third floor, passed room 321 that had a lively group of people in it, and knocked on the door to room 331. A woman answered and I politely asked her if there was a Rotary function going on in her bedroom. She replied, telling me that she spoke no English, only Polish and German. I asked if she spoke French or Spanish. The answer was no. So, I turned around and knocked on room 321. They had no idea who I was or where I was supposed to be, but this particular Rotary club welcomed me heartily. They were a rowdy bunch; consequently, they were also loads of fun! Pretty soon, I had an invitation to join them at dinner at Mr. Hau's Chinese restaurant.

I must say that an English Chinese meal is delicious. It was five courses all together. We began with fried seaweed, egg rolls, and a type of fried chicken for appetizers. Then we had a corn and crab meat soup followed by more appetizers. For this round of appetizers, one took a pancake (flat sugarless crepe), drizzled plum sauce on top, stuck in a handful of sliced cucumbers and/or onions, and stuffed the rest of it with Peking duck before rolling it up into a mess of delicious Chinese goodness. Next, we finally got around to the entrees (American entrees, mind you. In French, an entree is the same thing as an appetizer.) that included fried beef, chicken, tofu (which I discovered tastes a lot like eggs), rice with peas, corn, and ham, and an assortment of vegetables. Dessert was displayed marvelously with a carrot carved into a crane in the center of the dish, surrounded by fruit kebabs and fried apples.

Not only was the food superb, so was the company. I never felt left out for one moment of the evening. Madison is somewhat of a rare name in England, so I was called Meredith a few times, but I like that name, too, so it didn't bother me. I was also nicknamed, "the American cheerleader" because apparently I look like I would be the type of girl who cheerleads.

The man who sat next to me on my left was the Club President and the man who rescued in the hall when I had been wandering hopelessly lost. The man on my right used to race Ferrari's and other sports cars, and now owns a business (which he has recently downsized to thirteen employees and moved out of London) that makes and restores chandeliers for homes such as Buckingham Palace. We all talked and laughed, and for a much longer time than we were supposed to, for we were an hour late to "Rotary Last Night of the Proms."

What I saw of the Rotary Proms was absolutely magnificent. We arrived just as Kathryn Jenkin began to sing "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady. She wore the most beautiful purple evening gown and had an amazing voice. Of course, the theater was packed, so the only seats left were in the very front row or the back of the third level. We chose the back. The rest of the performance included Clifford Lister, an opera singer, the Sussex Symphony Orchestra, and Heathfield Choral Society. Part of me wishes that I could have seen more, but I did have such a great time with that Rotary club at our Chinese dinner. At the end of the performance, the orchestra played two patriotic English songs and all of the audience sang along and waved the British flag. Peter, the Rotary club of Sittingbourne Invicta President, admitted to me later that he thinks the Americans are still by far the most patriotic in his opinion. It was funny, though, because he tapped the man in front of him on the head (on purpose) with the tip of his flag, but he didn't respond at all. Two women turned to Peter and said almost at the same time, "No sense, no feeling." How clever of a saying is that!