Here we go again....

In 5 of the last 7 years I have taken it upon myself to organise a Thanksgiving Dinner (for American friends too feckless to do it for themselves....); 3 of those have been quite big affairs.   And that is a lot of hassle and stress.   This year, I have sought to spare myself this aggravation by delegating most of the organizational duties to a 'social secretary'.   However, I still have to take some responsibility for finalizing the numbers for the booking, chasing up my half of the guest list.  And that does get to be a rather irksome exercise - dealing with people who dither over their replies, give equivocating answers, change their minds repeatedly, or fail to reply at all (until the second or third follow-up).   I wonder why I bother.....   Well, I bother because it will be a lovely party when we finally get together next Thursday.   The week up until then, though, is just going to be one long round of vexation.