Happy Birthdays....

Mel my wife is celebrating Birthday fortnight again, edging ever nearer to my recent landmark. To celebrate she had her oldest friend (as in length of time known not age) down from Hartlepool for the weekend. Like me she has been abstaining from all life's indulgences since New Year but she broke the fast in fine style this weekend. They got trollied on Friday night, losing all volume control and at one point were simultaneously drinking single malt whisky and eating cake. That's a very dangerous situation, right there.

On Saturday I made myself scarce at the football whilst they joined up with another bunch of girls and went for cocktails and lunch. I arrived to pick them up after the game where they were just completing their conversation about shoes that had started five hours earlier. My taxi service was commended for it's punctuality though my driving received some criticism for being 'a bit shit'. Charming.

Sunday lunch at Penny's took us into day three of her Birthday festivities and my good eating regime is creaking under the strain of temptation and iron-discipline will be required tomorrow to get back to good habits. I've now successfully stopped smoking for two weeks and I'm determined to lose weight too if only to fly in the face of the convention that stopping smoking causes weight gain.

This Tuesday we are off to Northcote manor for our gourmet Michelin star tasting experience. Unfortunately, Mel's mum Pat has been taken ill in hospital and her and Fred cannot now join us as planned. Hopefully she is on the mend and we can rearrange our thank you to them for all their hard work and Support. Mels 'official' birthday is on Tuesday and the best present for her would be her mum getting a clean bill of health.