Big Birthday Celebrations

Penrith, Cumbria. Saturday/Sunday 25/26-January-2025.

A celebration of big birthdays Part 2: Mary and SIL Sandra birthdays are almost exactly ten years apart, January and December respectively. Rather than buy each other presents they decided upon a joint experience which we duly did - a luxury New Year's break in Pitlochry see [Pitlochry]. 

Mary‘s original plan for her actual birthday was similar to the last big birthday i.e to run away in denial but this time to New Zealand, but we couldn’t get reward flights on the dates that suited so instead we celebrated at home. We were joined for the weekend by Mary‘s sister, Sandra, BIL George, our best man, Pete, and his wife Amanda.

Saturday 25th.

We often celebrate Mary's birthday with a Burns' supper but were unable to find anyone holding one in the area. Instead we went for a traditional supper at home with haggis, neeps and tatties and a side order of pie and beans for George who is not a fan of haggis.

Starter was home cured salmon. Pudding was Christmas pudding soufflé - and excellent way to use Mary's leftover homemade Christmas pudding.

There was wine and whisky but I didn't count the bottles!

Sunday 26th - Afternoon.

We had afternoon tea at Bassenthwaite Lake Station. We have been there many times for wine tastings, murder mystery evenings and a brunch but this was the first time for afternoon tea. The venue includes replica railway carriages from the Orient Express. Not the real train but ones made especially for the movie set from the 2017 film, nonetheless a very elegant setting for a celebration.

The spread was half savoury, half sweet: sandwiches, fish goujons, cocktail sausage in Yorkshire pudding and a mini-burger followed by trifle, muffin, scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream plus two very chocolatey desserts.

They were able to provide a lactose free version so Mary and Sandra did not miss out.

Fortunately they are used to providing doggy bags so what we couldn’t eat did us for snacks over the next couple of days.

Sunday 26th - Evening.

Not a party as such but drinks with friends in the local bar; you might call it a private concert. We booked the astonishingly talented guitarist Jon Bowie to play a couple of sets in the upstairs room at Fell Bar and invited our friends.

He played a mixture of folk and blues, cover versions and original compositions. I am pleased to note that our friends were most respectful to the artist and there was minimal talking while he was actually playing. That is in no small part due to the man's sheer talent which commanded attention.

At the break and at the end we chatted with out friends and had a most relaxed evening - a delightful low-key way to celebrate. We staggered off home "and so to bed".

70th Birthday meal - Lowlander

The Lowlander, Drury Lane, London. Saturday 12-November-2020.

The primary driver for our visit to London was to have a birthday celebration for those that were unable to make it out to Italy so we decided to make a long weekend of it.

Since we were in London on a Saturday there had to be a parkrun. Amongst other fun challenges we are currently doing the Pirates challenge: Seven Seas and an Arrgh! - you have to do seven parkruns beginning with the letter C and one beginning with the letter R. 

Also Mary is playing catch up because she started parkrun later than I did so Clapham Common it had to be.

The next few parkruns are already scheduled to ensure we complete the challenge by Christmas ending up running at Carlisle in full pirate regalia just purchased from the fancy dress shop at Clapham Junction on Friday. We are not mad!

The birthday celebrations were in Lowlander, a Belgian bar and restaurant in Drury Lane. We had booked the mezzanine so that we would have our own separate space. We were hoping to be around 20 but had a few last-minute dropouts due to illness and transport issues however that did not deter us from having a good time and fulfilling the corporate mission "to eat, drink and have a good time". It was great to catch up with friends not seen for a while and we ended up being there for five hours!

Eventually we had to leave as they needed to clear and clean ready for an evening booking so a smaller group of us adjourned round the corner to the Princess Louise in Holborn for another beer, non-Belgian variety. The interior of the pub had changed considerably since I was there last. According to our friend Tony, it had been bought by Sam Smith's Brewery who used the original Victorian plans to re-create the interior as it had been before the previous owners ripped it all out. They have done a grand job of restoration.

We then headed back to Fulham intending to get a light snack for an evening meal but there was not much to choose from in the area. We had already eaten in the Italian the night before. We decided to try the Fulham Kitchen across the road which turned out to be a Serbian café who were able to feed us a plate of charcuterie and a generous grilled goats' cheese salad. Mary tried a couple of Serbian Chardonnays and passed them as perfectly acceptable. The lads on the next table were enjoying some kind of digestive. When I enquired it turned out to be some kind of apricot flavoured rocket fuel so we had to join in and give it a try. I thought it was alright.

And so to bed.

70th Birthday meal - Il Cucco

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. Tuesday 20-September-2022.

I have a habit of celebrating the decades with a big birthday party. Previous birthdays:

• 30th birthday - a restaurant somewhere in central London, almost certainly jointly with Denise, a friend whose birthday was close to mine.
• 40th birthday - black tie do in a function room above a pub in South Wimbledon, black tie gave ladies the opportunity to wear their posh frocks. Catering by our friend Sue.
• 50th birthday - meal for 40 guests in Somerley House, a stately home close to where we lived.
• 60th birthday - multiple parties including a large gathering in Puglia, hosted Carole and Mino, and London.

This year I decided I would hold it in Puglia as that is where we normally are on my birthday. We investigated various possible venues but ended up with Il Cucco, one of our favourite restaurants in Cisternino. It is normally closed on a Tuesday but when we had a chat with the owner he agreed to open up just for us so we could have the party on the day itself.

It is one of the best restaurants in town but for years it was very small with no outside space. Then the house next door came up for sale with a large garden. They bought it, went through the wall and restructured turning it into a brilliant venue.

I gave everybody a heads up earlier in the year as they might want to plan their holidays around the date. It turned out that many did indeed seize the opportunity. I was very flattered at how many people made the effort to come over from the UK for the occasion. It does help that it is a lovely part of the world to visit for a holiday.

Normally at a party the host doesn’t get to spend much time with individual guests as there are so many of them. Here we were fortunate enough to be able to meet up with people beforehand and have a decent long chat: Bron and Maggie on the Tuesday before, Siobhan and Paul on the Saturday before, Mary's family and the Penrith Four on the Sunday when they arrived.

Mary then organised for pizza on the Monday night before which turned into a mass booking for 37 people at Doppio Zero. We also went to Birrorosteria 72014, a Fornello Pronto aka Meat Feast, on the Wednesday after. That way I had ample opportunity to get to chat to everyone. On the day itself there were 59 guests, 35 from the UK and the rest a mixture of people who are semi-resident like us and Italians.

We held the party in the garden with the back-up plan of retreating indoors if the weather was poor. Thanks to Mary’s sister, Sandra, and family for the poster and hand drawn lettering on the bunting (and especially to Sandra for the colouring in).

A selection of photos of the garden and guests. Photo credit and thanks to Will Carpenter. 

A glass of local fizz beforehand.

Not wanting to number the tables, possibly suggesting a hierarchy, Mary came up with the idea of using local town names linked to someone on each table.

Looks I’m getting or giving advice with my brother Ian.

We had some thoughts about the menu and when we went to chat to the owner he basically proposed the same as what we had in mind: 

• Assorted antipasti
• Two primi
• strascinate with rabbit (one of our favourite dishes) 
• risotto with porcini (suitable for vegetarians)
• Two secondi
• beef 
• lamb
• Fruit
• Cake

The plan had been to have antipasti and primi served and then a buffet to encourage people to move and mingle. As it turned out it started raining halfway through the primi and we had to retreat indoors so the restaurant served everything at the table.

Many ended up on different tables so weather did the mingling for us which meant people got to talk to strangers. Several people commented what nice friends I had and of course they are, they wouldn't be my friends if they weren't!

Some ended up on a table in the enoteca (wine shop) which is part of the restaurant.

Back outside for cake cutting as the weather had eased.

A speech was requested...

...but I kept it short.

The thankful audience.

Cutting the cake.

Cheers! Now to start thinking about my 80th!

The Real Ale Train at The Watercress Line

Alresford, Hampshire. Saturday 21-September-2019.

The birthday treats continued with a journey aboard the RAT: the Real Ale Train on the Watercress Line. The journey begins at Alresford and shuttles back and forth to Medstead and Four Marks several times with the train swapping ends each trip.

All the stations and rolling stock are done in original, period style as are the staff (volunteers) who are clearly having a good time.

First order of the day, get a round in with our friends Gavin and Tania.

The platform at Alresford; all very "Brief Encounter".

The locomotive coming in for the first leg.

Medstead at the end of the first leg. The station master doing his best skinny "Fat Controller" impression.

Swapping ends at Medstead.

The loco in motion.

Reattaching at the other end for the first return leg.

The bar: four barrels of cask-conditioned ale. Alas I cannot tell you their names but I do remember they were all modest strength, around 3.8 ABV, suitable for full evening's drinking.

Supper was a basic selection at the station buffet back at Alresford: chicken jalfrezi, cheeseburger, chilli con carne and a couple of other choices. All clearly, freshly home made and tasty but they were ultra-restrained on the chilli powder and could have easily upped the heat to some advantage.

 An interior of one of the open carriages.

After several hours and several pints we staggered off home having had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Ian McKellen On Stage at the Harold Pinter Theatre

London. Friday 20-September-2019.

A birthday treat for me was a trip to the theatre to see "Ian McKellen On Stage". It was preceded by a really excellent, pre-theatre supper at a Greek fish restaurant Estiatorio Milos, "one of the finest Mediterranean seafood restaurants in the world" [OpenTable].

"Ian McKellen On Stage" was, unsurprisingly, a one man show and it delivered exactly what you would hope and expect: a combination of speeches, recitations, reminiscences and general banter. The first half started with a reading from LOTR complete with the sword Glamdring and Gandalf's hat.

He continued with more readings and biographical reminiscences. His first job after college was at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry where, amongst other roles, he performed in Toad of Toad Hall.

The first theatre production I ever saw was that very same Toad of Toad Hall at the Belgrade Theatre. At the tender age of nine I was taken by my parents, along with my siblings, to this Christmas show. I now know that the part of Chief Weasel was played by a young Sir Ian.

The second half was based on the complete works of Shakespeare using the plays as prompts to anecdotes from his long career.

All through there were lots of jokes and laughs to be had including a slapstick Widow Twanky sketch.

Heather Neil in The I gives it 5 stars: Ian McKellen on Stage, Harold Pinter Theatre, review: crowd-pleasing entertainment of the highest calibre.

"Reviewing Ian McKellen on Stage is, in one sense, like appraising Mount Everest: he is a phenomenon. In another sense, Sir Ian is not like that at all, going out of his way to be available to the adoring patrons filling the theatre, apparently enjoying every minute of up to three hours, from a jokey Gandalf-geared beginning to shaking a collecting bucket at the door as the audience leave. Apparently indefatigable, he can even be found chatting to punters in the stalls during the interval." Full review...

As does Mark Shenton writing for The Stage:

"An unadulterated love letter to the theatre, to the actor's life and the prose and poetry that fuel both, Ian McKellen's latest one-man show is a thing of sheer joy and utter wonder: an act of selfless generosity and warmth in every regard. [...] McKellen is a consummate stage actor, able to speak directly and intimately to every single person listening to his rapt delivery of this rich language." Full review...

On the way out as Sir Ian himself was shaking the charity bucket. As I dropped in our contribution I told him that Toad of Toad Hall was the first time I ever went to the theatre. When I confirmed that it was, indeed, at the Belgrade he shook my hand and said "Good Man!" So that was nice.

60th birthday meal - Puglian party

Trito, Puglia, Italy. Sunday 23-September-12.

I am pleased to say the party at Truddhi went better than I could have hoped for. It was fab, brill, super. I had a wonderful time and so, if I may make so bold, did all my guests. I always say the secret of a good do is to get lots of sociable people, put them together and let them get on with it.

The most common feedback I got was, "What a nice person X is. I had a really good chat with them". It seems like all my friends like all my other friends but then as one kindly said "I suppose we get the friends we deserve" which I took as a great compliment.

The other comment was "How lucky you are with the weather" - it was a wonderfully sunny Sunday.



The food was excellent and has its own blog post http://blog.mmenterprises.co.uk/2012/10/60th-birthday-meal-puglian-meal.html. Many thanks to Mino and his team for putting together a superb feast.



After the meal it was time for cutting the cake. We actually had two cakes because it turned out that it was also Geraldine's 60th birthday that very day. She'd kept that quiet but had let slip the night before so we had a second cake.



After the cake and another glass of prosecco it was time for dancing Italian style. The first woman, with a broom, chooses a man who chooses a second lady who chooses a second man who chooses the third woman. They dance round in a circle then each man picks a lady and the odd woman out has to dance with the broom - awww. Then she starts the next round and off we go again. Simple fun.



It was dark by the time we finished and Mino kindly gave us a lift home - I might have staggered a bit if I'd had to walk. Hic!

Loads more photos at 20120923-puglia-60th-party, a set on Flickr.

Time to start planning the 70th!