Mum's 80th Birthday

Friday was Mum's 80th birthday so we celebrated twice. I took the afternoon off work as did Ian (and Jane is a "home-maker" as the Americans say). I caught the train down to Farnham where the three of us, Mum and Dad had lunch at the Loch Fyne Restaurant.


Present opening

Then on Saturday we all reconvened at Jane&Pete's place in Reigate where we were joined by most of the grandsons for a great present giving ceremony and birthday toast with a glass of champagne.


Cake with 8 candles

We then had a buffet lunch in the garden and fortunately is was a gloriously sunny day. This was followed by a cake which Sarah had made complete with eight inextinguishable candles - one for each decade.


Nephews: Chris, Tom, Tom 2, Lorenzo, Joe

Lorenzo (Ian's eldest) joined us halfway through the meal. Only Mike (Jane and Pete's eldest) wasn't able to make it as the band he is in (Thumpermonkey) had a gig in PLymouth the night before.


Mum, Dad and Balloons

Firewall blues

Well it had to happen I guess. Ever since working at the current client site their company firewall has banned access to inappropriate sites. Fair enough. Their definition of inappropriate has always included web mail, so no catching up on your correspondance even at lunchtime.

Now the inevitable has happened and they have added blog sites, discussion forums and photo-sharing sites to that list :-(

That means no blog-surfing at lunchtime to catch up on the blogroll; no more quick posts from work; no more commenting on others blogs. Oh well. Apologies to my regular reads.

Street Life (Driver Does Not)

More corporate whimsy. This time on the side of a delivery truck for Wild Bean Cafe seen recently on my walk to work over Blackfriars Bridge:

DRIVER DOES NOT
HAVE ACCESS TO
MUFFINS

Pasqua in Puglia 2007

I have been off air as we went to the Hovel-in-the-Hills™ for Easter. This was our first holiday there planned as a holiday not chivying the architect to fix the snagging list. We went out with friends Tim&Sarah, their two children Alex and Zoe plus an old friend Ros.


Alberobello: Of course the world heritage site of Alberobello is a must. A town of trulli only 20 minutes drive away.



Sarah, Tim, Mary and Ros relax: We managed to fit in a good amount of sunbathing.


Moore Family on the Lamia Roof: Watching the sunset from the roof top with a glass of prosecco in hand is a daily ritual after a hard day's sunbathing.

American Visitors

Over the weekend Mary was in Scotland with her Mum and I was playing host to a couple of American visitors: Elizabeth (an old colleague) and Baylor, a friend of hers.

They arrived Friday morning and we immediately set off to Stonehenge with a couple of minor detours to look at where Elizabeth and I worked together for a while. Stonehenge was pretty chilly, grey and overcast but an unexpected bonus for Baylor; E and I have been there before but it is still an impressive sight.

Saturday they did not want to do the tourist thing so we chilled out around Wandsworth. We went to the farmers' market by the station and then for a walk along the Thames-side path. We took a route Mary and I do often over Wandle Creek, through the park (Grade 2 listed) to Putney Bridge and back through the residential streets. I was pointing out all the typical Victorian terraced housing. Then quick visits to Ros and to Sarah to drop off stuff for our visit to Italy on Saturday and finally home for a meal with the food from the market.

Restaurant Retro-Blogging.

You might be forgiven for thinking that my life has been quiet to judge from the paucity of recent posts. Of course the complete opposite is true. I feel like I have been burning the candle at both ends. Looking back over the last four weeks I seem to have been eating in restaurants an awful lot. So if you are looking for somewhere to eat these are all fine eateries:

• Wed 07: Cafe Espana with sister Jane
• Thu 08: Global with Ros
• Fri 09: Bank to celebrate Glen's 50th
• Sat 10: Centro Storico in Locorotondo, Italy with Mary
• Sun 11: Bar DiVino in Locorotondo, Italy with Mary
• Tue 13: The Groucho Club with family
• Wed 14: Quaglino's with Andrea
• Thu 15: Cork and Bottle before Little Shop of Horrors with Pete and Amanda
• Fri 16: Tony Tobin's Dining Room in Reigate with sister Jane and BIL Pete
• Sat 17: Ayudhya Thai to celebrate Kate's 40th
• Tue 20: Vinoteca with Andrea and Mary
• Thu 22: Shampers after burgundy tasting with Mary
• Mon 26: Criterion after Chateuneuf du Pape tasting with Bron
• Tue 27: Bankside SE1 with Andrea after Gilbert and George at Tate Modern
• Fri 30: Brady's fish and chip shop with Elizabeth and Baylor
• Sun 01: Konnigans after St Thomas's A&E with Mary (poked myself in the eye whilst gardening - no damage thank goodness)
• Mon 02: Vinoteca with Carolyn
• Tue 03: Da Mario with Bob and Robert

And just to round off the week we go late night shopping tomorrow followed by Enoteca Turi in Putney.