A Titanic Dinner
13 April 2002
As a belated treat for Teresa’s birthday, we had booked an
Elegant Excursion to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the sinking
of the Titanic. Elegant
Excursions provide lunches and dinners prepared and served on the Pullman
coaches of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, including regular theme
evenings, such as this one.
We had intended to reach the station in time to see our train
pull in, but were delayed on leaving home by a glitch in the burglar alarm
system. We had to leave the house
flashing like a blue police siren, but warned the neighbours, just in case
anybody reacted. (No one did.)
When we got to the station, the train was already virtually full,
and we had time only for a brief view of our engine, the mighty Raveningham
Hall, built in 1944, which was to take us to Gotherington and back – twice
– during the evening.
Most
of the passengers had dressed for the occasion, the men opting predominantly
for dinner jackets, which are fairly timeless, but some of the ladies were in
period costume. Roger attempted to look
vaguely nautical.
The menu recreated the first class menu for that last evening on
the Titanic:
The champagne cocktail, followed
by the hors d’oeuvres, which started the dinner:
As the train moved almost
imperceptibly up and down the line, the captain announced at intervals the
fateful progress of the disaster, and passed down the train to reassure us:
Darkness fell during the journey. Unlike the liner, the train made it safely back to
Toddington. We finished the final
course, coffee, about three hours after we boarded.
Thereafter, it was a short
walk home, where Teresa easily reset the alarm system, despite our earlier
confusion.
A very pleasant evening and an excellent birthday celebration.