Singing and sobbing with family – just don’t tell the kids

The long-awaited meet-up with one of my sisters and her husband, joined briefly by my brother and his partner – all careful and staying socially distant – took place and we were just thrilled to be together for the first time since January. Unfortunately, this joyous reunion quickly descended to the depths that most gatherings tend to where my family is concerned. We were outside in the garden and drink was taken earlier than usual, what with it being fairly good weather. This meant that there was more time left in the evening for our traditional, inevitable music-led trips down memory lane and the resulting spirited discussions they spark.

It starts innocently enough, as these things always do, with Mr P being in charge of the choices being played through the speaker from his phone.

We are all given a song choice in strict rotation and the reason (or indeed justification) for the choice is usually given. This often leads to increasingly loud and more elaborate anecdotes about various bands, gigs etc, most of which we’ve all heard and told many times before.

There is much groaning about those of us who always put forward the same choices (The Clash and The Jam for me. I make no apology) but also much hilarity. My sister’s abiding and passionate defence of certain Wombles numbers is generally dragged forth at some point.

At a certain point, the cry goes up for a singalong choice. There is nothing quite as tragic as a group of fifty-somethings giving it their all in a rousing chorus from a Glen Campbell or Simon & Garfunkel song.

All that’s really changed in the last few months is that our combined tendency to extreme sentimentality is even more pronounced and hysterical laughter or sobbing seems quite reasonable among people who’ve been starved of wider company for a long period.

At a certain stage, we call it a night.

The new normal? In some respects, very much like the old normal but with the added bonus that we could all say the next day “Thank God our kids weren’t here to see that. Too risky, what with social distancing.” Phew.

We were outside in the garden and drink was taken earlier than usual