Parent Disco Party

Rachelle and I received an invite to a "disco party". We had several different ideas of what it might entail, but I don't think either of us envisioned the surreal sociocultural experience that was to be.

We arrived at the 'Larkhall Liberal Club' for the party with our plate of brownies. We were greeted into the dingy pub to find a handful of drunk, grumbly, and toothless men watching rugby on a little TV. As we stepped past one sleeping man, another guy pointed to the stairs without taking his eyes off the game. We followed the steep, skinny stairs to the basement and found 2 other couples in a long skinny room. At the far end of the room/hallway was a table with a stereo system and a disco ball shooting multicolored lights out around the walls. The table was manned by an 80-year-old or so skinny chap who was swinging his arms to the music. Along one wall was a bar and a table of food.

Eventually some more parents showed up and began having drinks and the party took on the typical tempo. One guy pointed out to me how the room was actually a skittles alley when it was not being used for disco parties. Skittles is like bowling except the ball is about the size of a softball and there are 9 pins laid out in a diamond shape. Now I understood the funny dimensions of the room. We were having a party on a bowling alley!

Upon closer inspection of the DJ, I noticed he was quite agile for an old guy. Yes, he could pop those cassettes in and out of the cassette player as if he had been doing so for a century or so. The music ranged from some current Brit pop to oldies but goldies. Rachelle asked if I would dance with her. I noticed that there were about 6 women and no guys on the far end of the bowling alley. Being the good husband, I was dragged down to the dancing area. As we bee-bopped to a Grease medley, I could tell that some of the other men were looking at me and thinking, "Look at the silly American bloke dancing. What a git."

After skipping the light fandango, Rachelle and I had some Brit food, such as mincemeat pie (it is a sweet dried fruit-filled pie) and potato dishes. As the raffle began, we slipped back up the stairs, past the men staring at another rugby match, and made our way home.