We went to our first Diwali party today, at the home of some friends. They even provided suitable clothing for us, as well as some delicious food. It was one of those evenings that just worked really well, and the kids behaved beautifully. Pictured above are Fiona, Vani, Kate and Veena.

One of Veena’s colleagues, a South African called Gary, rocked up with a bottle of wine. It just happened to be a Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 2001. This was a treat: fresh, quite complex, savoury in style but with enough fruit to make it enjoyable to drink. An unexpected treat.

We also had a small firework display, consisting of 16 rockets. We had to launch them from a flowerpot to protect the astroturf lawn. For some bizarre reason I was entrusted with firework duties, and it wasn’t until the first rocket had failed to launch but still went off that I realized you are supposed to put the wooden stem of the rockets in a launching sleeve, not directly into the earth. There was also a moment of mild peril but great excitement when one of the rockets malfunctioned and headed straight towards us. It exploded at our feet, but no one was hurt.