The lake lay sparkling in the sun, as thirty of us dined in eighteenth century splendour in Neuchâtel at the Palais du Peyrou, built by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s publisher.
Craig Penlington and his team served us attentively with a typical Christmas lunch of turkey, cranberry sauce, roast potatoes and vegetables, washed down by the local wine. The plum duff was very tasty but totally short on sixpences. However, the hand-made crackers (imported from Zurich) made up for that with satisfyingly dreadful jokes and other seasonal knick-knacks.
The Palais was a truly splendid venue to enjoy this meal with friends old and new. Conversation flagged only when Joy’s excellent Christmas cake was served with the coffee.
Our thanks go to Joy for her tireless efforts as organiser, hostess, patissière, book-keeper and taxi-driver, all in the wake of her painful pelvic fracture.
Andrew Brix
