Total fire ban: When nature and man clash

I marked an interesting first on the weekend - the first post-COVID baby shower.

In the past, a baby shower was a mass gathering of people, with social and family groups overlapping, creating a small amount of awkwardness as people try and figure out how they know each other.

The blokes all go off to the shed or backyard and generate conversation while the main action takes place in the living room. I usually come home with a cupcake as a consolation prize for behaving.

Saturday was a different set-up.

With large crowds a faux-pas, the groups were given on hour slots. My partner and I had session 3, which included two other friends. In the hour-long 'booking' we chatted and joked as we sat in the park.

The time flew by.

Midway through the conversation, I asked how the smaller meetings were going. Two thumbs up!

No need to juggle conversations or feel bad about neglecting a particular guest because you ran out of puff. It was the perfect set-up.

Which makes you think, should other aspects of our life be broken up in hour-long bookings?

Imagine Christmas with Uncle Roger and Aunt Bertha. Lock them in for a 3pm, after lunch for Bertha can't complain about the roast. Give Roger just an hour to start talking about his latest obsession before moving them on at 4pm. Then welcome in your cousin Eddie and his wife for a yarn over a cup of tea.

This idea could have legs.