Well, there's a surprise – one very lovely full on birthday weekend later, and here I am about to go to the docs with the inevitable cold-turned-into-a-chest-infection-from-caning-it-excessively.
Still – it was well worth it!
Started off with a dinner-come-late-night-lock-in at the slightly unusal venue of Me Love Sushi in Imperial Wharf, part of Jules' Asian restaurant empire. Endless bottles of sake magically transformed a normal table of 8 into a baying mass of salmon-fuelled hammerdness over the course of about 5 hours. Cue spontaneous solo dancing (Nicky), signalling ghost-waiters-long-gone-home for more sake (also Nicky), a lot of commenting on Soph's excellent cleavage in that top (all), an increasingly fretful girlfriend feeling the hours slip away on the final eve before her partner headed off for a 6 week trip to South America (Vicky), deeply unrealistic suggestions of going on post-2am to a house party (Keytes, not noticing the average age of the old gits she was out with), ending up in the bar area helping ourselves to stuff (which, being good old soaks, we did actually leave fairy cash for) and the recipe was made for 8 stonking hangovers on Saturday morning…..
And then a cracking surprise birthday dinner on the Sat eve – expected two chums to join us and got a bargain four more thrown in for free! Janine & Ross, Mikey & Madge and Clare & Andy – splendid! Very nice private dining room at Bambou in town, all sorted by lucky Mr Hawkes, fulfilling his destiny of making his hard to please old bat of a wife happy, very well.
And thence to Sunday's delectations – a morning of highly indulgent prezzie opening in bed, in between bites of salmon & cream cheese bagel, while holding a very excited Mojo and her desperately keen tongue at bay. Keen for the bagel, pervos, nothing else.
And then my birthday lunch – nice pub in Teddington (my concession to increasing middle age) and another private dining area, which did wonders for echoey conversation and everyone getting deeply sweaty. Thanks to Hatch & Rich, Lyds, Fitz, Vicky and Morts & Kelly for rolling out, with only the three offspring to increase the decibel levels and decrease my ever-diminishing street cred.
Highlight had to have been Lyds giving me a vastly over-generous Selfridges voucher and a card kindly wishing me a Happy 40th Birthday – a full three years after she last did. Mind you Lyds, the amount of booze you polished off at my 40th do, I'm not bloody surprised you'd forgotten the entire event! And god bless you for thinking I could actually still be 40, which would even somehow make me a month younger than you, as yours was only a few weeks ago, you fabulous numpty.
Anyway, back down to earth with a bump today – spent it going to the docs for chesticoff antibiotics, hoisting Mum out fo the bath again, getting her hair cut by a proper hairdresser (who honked with amusement at the total hash I've been making of it while cutting it myself – think comb-over meets Chewbacca), buying food for her and then telling the grasping bastards at EDF energy that although prices are going up, to put up her direct debit by a whole 100% when she's actually in credit with them was SO not going to happen! And then a fruitless trip to a patio paving centre in bloody Kent, only to not find one for our mini cabbage patch… yes the extended b'day weekend was certainly coming to a close…
Still, only 365 days or so to the next birthday bonanza - am counting already! Sx