A Claytons Wake - the wake to have when you're not having a wake

Tweet

@Platespinner has been working hard for ages providing costumes for a play. Now the pressure is off as far as sewing goes but she is still very busy. So her holiday from sewing isn’t really a holiday. I commented that she was having a Claytons holiday and Joanne queried me on this. When I wrote it I did wonder if readers would understand the reference to Claytons. Claytons is a non-alcoholic liquid packaged to resemble whisky and marketed during the 70s and 80s as ‘the drink you have when you're not having a drink’. The term is now used to signify something or someone that isn’t what it claims to be. It is sometimes used as an insult such as a Clayton’s chef. Within our group of friends we were having a discussion once about what a pity it was that we couldn’t attend our own wakes. There’d be great food and drink and everyone would say wonderful things about you. However you wouldn’t be there to enjoy it. So we came up with the idea of taking it in turns to have a Claytons wake – a pretend wake so whoever was ‘dead’ could have the pleasure of joining in the day. However when we thought the oldest member of the group should be the first to have a Claytons wake, he got very spooked and wasn’t a bit keen on the idea. So we had to drop it. A shame really, don’t you think? The photo is of a friend’s dog. He isn’t really dead. He just likes to sleep like that.