Cocktail Hour

Last night was the introduction of Cocktail Hour at Casa Mystones. It was a roaring success. But before I elaborate, let me give a brief history of The Cocktail Hour. (which neither lasts only an hour, or involves "cocktails" as such)

This version of Cocktail Hour was conceptualised back in the mid 90s in a little house in Como, Perth. I was living there with a bunch of Darwin expats and we had few friends and had even less money. We had to make our own fun and thus the Cocktail Hour was born.
One sunny Spring afternoon, we had all gathered at home after a long day of attending uni lectures, part time jobs or basic loafing around in a stoned haze. It was payday and after the pooling of resources. allotment of monies to various household expenses and a run up to the local for a couple of goonbags, inspiration struck. We gave ourselves half an hour to find the most flamboyant and sexy things in our wardrobes (good taste by no means a requirement) put on a great deal of make up and the most impractical shoes we owned. We then regrouped on the back verandah, gussied up our cheap wine with fruit garnishes and paper umbrellas and proceeded to get shitfaced in style. This became a payday tradition - until of course we finally made friends and developed a more extensive social life, it dropped back to about once every couple of months.

Cocktail Hour resurfaced many years later when living back in Darwin, this time in the beautiful Ludmilla House with A-M and Sam.
The main addition to this version was character development - not only did we dress up, we were required to take on another character for the duration of the evening. Being older and also
employed, there was the added advantage of better quality beverages.

Yesterday while sitting at my desk and looking to all intents and purposes that I was deep in thought about pressing issues regarding my various duties and implementation of work practice..(blah blah blah blah) I was in fact reminiscing about those good old days and upon my return home instructed the family that Cocktail Hour had arrived and "you better go get your glam on".
Half an hour later, Tash was rocking the tiara , I had on perilously high shoes, Paul was blinged, Mel had dropped in and was attacked immediately with PVC and faux fur, Brother Brett even got in on the action with a very Micheal Jackson Smooth Criminal look. Hilarity ensued and the re-institution of an obviously recurring tradition was complete.
Do not underestimate the power of green eyeshadow and excessive drinking.