A SIMPLY FABULOUS BRUNCH
EVENT REPORT BY NINA BOGDAN
Dining room with a view
On Sunday, January 25, NCTA members gathered at Skates by the Bay, a restaurant in Berkeley, to celebrate the post-holiday season and share experiences.
Close to 40 people attended the event with a number of NCTA members bringing family and friends along to enjoy the great fare and spectacular views of the bay.
As I have developed the bad habit of arriving late to events (although in my defense traffic is usually to blame in the Bay Area, my philosophy being that if takes more than an hour to get some place I should re-think the necessity of going), I made a point of arriving on time on this occasion. There were five of us present to get the party started but seemingly in the blink of an eye, we had four tables filled with people, all talking animatedly, re-connecting and, as in my case, meeting and getting acquainted with people whose names are familiar to me but whom I’ve never actually met in person. As is inevitable, people did talk shop (how can you not?) but other topics were broached and ranged from speculations about what the New Year will bring to what J. Edgar Hoover really liked to wear.
Nothing beats good food and conversation (wine is also nice but I think for most of us it was a tad early for cocktails) and time zipped by. The NCTA provided coffee, tea and cookies to complete a great meal and then the group set off on the traditional post-brunch walk on the pier. Although rain had been forecast for Sunday, the translation gods decided that they shouldn’t interfere with this very important part of the event and the afternoon was beautifully clear and bright with some clouds massed on the horizon to the south.
The grand finale was, as is also a tradition now, a group photo shoot at the end of the pier. This is the fourth year that the post-holiday brunch has been held at Skates and it is a great way to start the New Year-seeing old acquaintances and making new friends. NB
