A cup of coffee among friends

We had a wonderfully hilarious evening at our friend's house, where a group of international leaders had gathered for a wonderful dinner. The evening was spent eating, sipping wine, by comparing notes on what to buy the kids from the airport (the pros and cons of socks, books and magic beans), and by sharing stories.

One of the best stories was told by a guest, who had recently arranged a coffee afternoon among friends, friends consisting of ambassadors. Instead of it having been held at one of the embassies, as planned, the coffee-afternoon landed on this lady's small unpresentable house. The party expanded. To the amazement of the neighbours, the quiet residential street was found to be blocked by an abundance of diplomatic and government's cars.

Before any of the guests arrived, the unpresentable house was thoroughly searched for anything suspicious, and the tiny garden swarmed with security guards. The guestlist expanded uncontrollably. The coffee afternoon's guestlist now not only consisted of the woman herself and half a dozen ambassadors, but also the country's vice-president and a half a dozen of her ministers. As each person arrived with their personal bodyguards and entourage, the coffee-afternoon in the cramped house was anything but ordinary. It had, nevertheless, been a huge success, and none of the worn down 80's chairs had given in under the weight of the traditionally built women.