Monday, March 13, 2006

John Patient's 50th Birthday

Busy weekend which started on Friday with Dad's 81st birthday. When he hit seventy he said he was no longer interested in celebrating future birthdays, except maybe the big numbers (multiples of 5 and 10). No presents or cards. So we took him at his word and then he was disappointed when we didn't send a card on his 71st. Now we always send a card and sometimes, if we meet around that time, a little present.

Friday afternoon it was leave work early and off to Heathrow to pickup May, Mary's mum, who is down with us for ten days.

Saturday was off to St Albans by train to celebrate John's birthday in the Greek restaurant Anastasia (I would definitely recommend for a group night out). As expected we beat John there because he and a number of the guests had gone to the pub for a beer first.

A sociable crowd many of whom were strangers to me but, given they are all old friends of John's, were the sort of people happy to chat to whoever they sat next to. The "Question du Jour" was "How did you meet John?" which threw an interesting patchwork light on the jigsaw of his life.

Unfortunately we had to dash to catch the 22:30 train back home as we had May staying. Old friends Kate and Ian did the same for baby-sitting reasons which pleasantly extended our evening by an hour as we chatted all the way to Clapham junction where our paths diverged.

A most enjoyable evening. I must find out today how the next couple of hours went as the plan was more drink, a disco (the restaurant has a small dance floor) and toasting John's birthday at midnight as Sunday was the actual day.

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