After the rigours of the past few weeks I have been hugely cheered to receive from the Great Britain Russia Society an invitation to spend quite a lot of money on tickets for the Sixteenth Annual Russian Summer Ball to be held at the Banqueting house in Whitehall in June.
It is highly unlikely that Nick and I will be attending this uniquely Russian event, but I thought blog readers might be amused to see what is on offer. If you have few hundred pounds to spare, some of you might even like to go!
The Guests of Honour will be various members of the Russian Royal family and we are told that the evening includes an ‘Ivan the Terrible Vodka and Champagne reception’, a three course dinner, a live charity auction, more ‘Ivan the Terrible Vodka and Champagne’, dancing to the band of the Coldstream Guards, a ‘cabaret Russe’, breakfast and carriages at 3.30 a.m.
For those who are challenged in the Strictly Come Dancing department, ballroom dancing practice is available at Brompton Oratory for a fee of £12 a session.
Also included will be a display of the art of ‘sabrage’. For those who do not know what this is (and I confess I did not), it is the art of chopping off the top of a champagne bottle with a sabre.
To catch the spirit of this phenomenon I quote from a website devoted to the art:
‘Imagine a warm summer evening...and the unique opportunity to watch champagne corks flying through the air after the sabre makes contact with the top of the bottle in just the right spot....’
Well, I think you and Nick should go! I want to know all about this extravagant shebang in these straigthened times. No doubt half the Russian Mafia will be there as well!
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