Our first Non-BBQ

What with Ilajna planning a five month hiatus from the rigours of New York, we had, at first planned to organise a rooftop barbecue by way of a leaving do. However, on discovering that fire regulations prohibited us from having a BBQ in our building, we had to re-think the plan. Ultimately, we decided to hold a non-BBQ, which, conceptually similar to a non-wedding, has all the trappings of a BBQ (music, rooftop, sunshine, sangria, food) without the actual BBQ itself.

In the run-up to the non-BBQ, my friends surpassed themselves in their industriousness. Ilajna and Doobie spent the three preceding days in a flurry of activity - planning the menu, drafting numerous shopping lists, chopping, marinating, baking, tasting. Jeet shared her tried and tested (and potent to the point of being illegal) recipe for sangria which proved to be the backbone of the party. Delta, self-appointeed Bartender, Light & Sound Expert and General Handyman, came by early in the afternoon to help set up the preparations.

We kept a nervous pulse on the weather forecast, which vascillated capriciously between thunderstorms and hot sunshine. Seriously. (Weather.com should just adopt the standard strategy the Beeb uses to forecast London weather: "Mild, with some potential sunshine and the possibility of showers." That way, through the practised art of committing to nothing, you can't be accused of error in judgement.

Despite the general hurry, flurry and scurry of final arrangements, the party itself went off without a hitch, I'm thrilled to say.

Before long, the crisp night air was filled with the refreshing mingle of chatter and laughter. The rooftop offered an openness so rarely to be found in the city. On one side, a view of the brightly lit edifices of corporate America, blazing against the dusky sunset (a real Howard Roark moment from Fountainhead.) On the other side, a darkening sky and the ink-black East River.

And in between these grandiose scenes, a tiny Manhattan rooftop with a cluster of friends and family, laughingly enjoying the summer's first non-BBQ.