Mary's birthday three times

Now that went more according to plan...

Friday night was a quiet night in with Geraldine and Alisdair who were staying with us for the week end. Saturday lunchtime it was off to Heathrow to collect Mary's sister, Sandra, and brother-in-law, George plus their friends, Willy and Isabel.

Saturday afternoon it was an "At Home" to the Scottish contingent as they polished off four bottles of champagne. Then dispersal in preparation for the evening. Included in that was warning the credit card company to expect a very large restaurant bill. The man at Amex, when Mary mentioned the amount, wittily concluded with "I hope you get pudding with that".

Saturday evening was dinner for 51 pax at Al Ponte. Those that got there earlier got the '88 Krug (en magnum), the laggards got an alternative as we only had three of the former. Service was a bit too leisurely with antipasto, pasta, main course at 11:00 (!) and desserts about midnight by which time a number had left for their last trains.

Boy can our friends drink and talk! The chatter was deafening as people mingled and chatted and circulated much to the bemusement of the staff as they tried to deliver food to the appropriate peripatetic diners.

We staggered out about 2am and back for one last nightcap with G&A then a dreamless sleep - well not so much sleep more like coma!

Pass the aspirin again.

Mary's birthday twice

Well that didn't go quite as planned...

Yesterday was Mary's actual fiftieth birthday. Plan A had been a romantic candlelit supper for two at a Michelin One Starred restaurant (Putney Bridge Restaurant). I had even arranged for Interflora to deliver a bouquet direct to the restaurant for a surprise.

What happened instead was Mary went to the physio Tuesday evening for some treatment on her bulging disc. Instead of helping, it made matters much worse. On the birthday morning she could hardly stand for the pain. I had to help her hobble from the bathroom back to the bedroom where she lay for the rest of the day in no small pain and discomfort.

So we had to cancel the booking and go for dining at home. Mary had only just been able to get up by 5 o'clock when I got home early. Instead supper was the best that M&S could provide: scallops on rocket and fillet steak with seasonal veg. Plus of course a glass of champagne and a bottle of Terre Dom Pepe (our local Locorontondo wine).

Mary's birthday once

The weekend was literally a flying visit to Scotland. We flew for free courtesy of Mary's BMI frequent flyer points and stayed in the Hilton for free courtesy of my Hilton Honors frequent snorer points.

The occasion was a pre-birthday celebration meal with the older generation of the Galashan clan and friends who will not be down to London for this coming weekend. We had an excellent evening at The Pipers' Tryst Hotel at The National Piping Centre. Traditional Scottish meal with live music (fiddle and flute). I would recommend it for an enjoyable night out with friends.

No really it's networking not drinking!

Another CSC alumni meeting. This time in the far more congenial surroundings of The Crusting Pipe in Covent Garden.

Much the usual band of suspects: there was me, Tony Korn, Simon Hargrave, Chris Howard, John Warren, David Pelta, John Patient, Rob Heyfron, Carolyn MacDowell, Tony Czarnecki, Tony Hazel and Anne Carter. Apologies from David Martin and Anthony Bodle. A good turnout - thanks chaps.

We drank, we nibbled, we talked.

Several peeled off about 8:30 lured by the siren call of South West Trains. Mary joined us after an intensive handbag hunt in the Wild West End and came in clutching her Louis Vuitton trophy. Then we stragglers (M&M, CM, DAP, SH and TH) dined in the restaurant part (perfectly acceptable food) and staggered wandered off about 11:00.

Blog meeting 2

Went to another Blog Meet yesterday. Unlike the previous Blog meet this had 10 pax rather than the previous 4 which made for a livelier meeting. They seemed mostly normal but then I would say that wouldn't I; I was there too! Not, as my wife suspects, all techno-geeks but a cross section of normal people. Some ate, all drank, all talked.

Compared to last time I drank less, went home earlier, woke up feeling more alert. Although that may also be thanks to Cleo not scrabbling on the laminate flooring at 2:30, 4:40 and 5:25 like the night before.

Ghost cats

It was strange to go back to an empty Avon Cottage and not be greeted by a feline welcoming committee. I am so used to Oscar trotting up to the door to say hello. He did not so much demand attention but more invited it by his desire to be in the company of humans.



Several times in my mind I would see him trotting over to say hello or catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye and turn to see not Oscar but a pair of discarded jeans on the floor. The house is emptier without him, I do miss him and it still hardly seems real.

Original post The saddest news about Oscar

Inner city shopping

How different it is here in "The Great Wen" compared to our local Waitrose in Ringwood.

Firstly the very obvious (multiple) security guards at the door which says something about the level of shop-lifting that goes on. Oh the charms of inner city demographics!

Secondly the pattern of shopping. Not the weekly household trolley shop but the lunchtime basket shop for a sandwich and tonight's tea. That and the density of daytime population means queues of 60-70 in the Covent Garden M&S!

At first I thought "S*d this for a game of soldiers" and was about to return my selections to the shelves but then realised they have the single-queue / multiple-server arrangement. With 16 tills that queue rattled through in under 5 minutes and I was back out into the street clutching dinner for two.

Have you ever had a ride in a light blue car?

...Have you ever had to push push push push?

The mental jukebox has been on auto-repeat the last week or so with
Car Trouble from Dirk Wears White Sox by Adam Ant. Yesterday I twigged why.

The lifts in this office block had been breaking down regularly during December. With only two lifts operational at any one time and 12 floors to service the wait intervals drove many to the stairs. I got into the habit of using the stairs as being quicker and getting some exercise. The doors from the stairwell into the lift lobbies are labelled "Push" and without realising it have been subliminally triggering the mental play button - push push push.

Meetings in Puglia

It was a quick trip down to Puglia this weekend flying Ryan Air Friday evening out of STN down to BDS. First to meet with Pietro at the offices of Gruppo Damico and collect the actual top copy of the deeds to the Hovel-in-the-Hills. Then, after lunch, down to the property to meet with Daniele, our architect to discuss and finalise a number of options re the plans:


Mainly that we did not want a separate kitchen in the Trulli half. Instead to have it as a living room with sofa bed and turn the living / dining room into a kitchen / dining room.

A most successful visit apart from the late Sunday return flight. It went to schedule but getting home at 1:30 am is too late when you have to get up and go to work the next day. That Lottery ticket is just not working!

Ge'in it laldy

Every visit to Scotland adds to my repertoire of useful words and phrases for conversing with the natives locals. This time it was "Ge'in it laldy"

Watching TV on New Year's Eve the presenter described Nicola Benedetti's performance at the opening of the new Scottish Parliament buildings as "Ge'in it laldy". The humourous juxtaposition of high art and low vernacular made Mary laugh and me furrow my brow.

According to First Foot it means: "...to do anything with great gusto or to get laid in to someone big style whether physically or verbally."

Chad - wot no bananas

Following on from my previous post Wot no hangover I did a quick google for images of chad. I got lots of blokes called Chad and some maps of the sub-Saharan country but none of the WWII character. So here he is:

"WOT NO BANANAS?!"

A quiet Hogmanay

Probably the quietest on record.

The start of our Scottish sojourn was delayed when we were 2 minutes late at BOH for Ryan Air's strictly enforced 40 minute check-in cut off. What could we do but smile sweetly, pay out two lots of GBP 45 adjustment fee and vow to return 23 hours later.

New Year's Eve was the one year anniversary of Mary's father's death so an inappropriate time for celebration more for quiet reflection. We were there to keep Mary's mum May company with frequent cups of tea and biscuits plus running her to the shops and such like.

On the morning of the 31st we went to the crematorium for Mary and May to lay some freesias on the stone that marked Bill's ashes. The rest of the day was spent quietly at home. May went to bed early but Mary and I stayed up for the Bells. There can be only one toast on such an occasion "Absent Friends".

Wot no hangover?

[Sunday 26 December 2004]

Christmas day was round at Bob&Lynne's along with John&Pam, Lynne's parents. The meal was the full monty ending up with cheese and a Dowes '83 port of which I had several (small) glasses. We stayed the night and much to my amazement I was fine in the morning.

That's it, I'm all blogged out for now.

More on Wot No...?

Brass monkeys on Christmas morn

[Saturday 25 December 2004]

Up at 7:30 am on Christmas morning to cycle the five miles back to Francesca's to pick up the car. Only 1.5°C so the fingers were a bit numb by the time it came to folding up the bike and stuffing on the back seat.

But far better than drink-driving the evening before. I might stretch to 2 glasses over along evening but more than that is dangerous and irresponsible - mind you some might take the zero tolerance stance. Hey, we all make choices.

Lorenzo comes of age

[Friday 24 December 2004]
Today is the eighteenth birthday of my nephew and godson Lorenzo. So it was off to Francesca's for a gathering of the family. On Francesca's side that just meant Nonna Carla, on Ian's it was Mum and Dad and us two. Plus a couple of neighbours dropped in part time.

Now here is another reminder of mortality and the passing of time. Lorenzo was born by Caesarean appointment of Christmas Eve those 18 years ago and I clearly remember visiting Francesca and the neonate on Christmas day in hospital.

Then the christening shortly after. I was most impressed that the Catholic church would baptise a child born out of wedlock but then they must reckon that having failed with the parents with the young they get another go. I had to swear to forsake the devil and all his ways and I must confess I crossed my fingers behind my back at that point.

I am not sure I was much cop as a godfather. I do not remember providing much input to his spiritual and moral upbringing nor come to that much in the way of presents. So for this occasion I went for the bloke option - a big fat cheque.

Now he is come to man's estate. S**t doesn't that Karmic wheel fair spin round at a rate of knots!

Spawn of Satan

[Thursday 24 December 2004]
Witchs' familiar! That black cat did it again: clawing at the door, widdling in the bathroom. Sleep deprivation and a rude awakening. The alternative? Leave the door open and get her duvet dancing at 4 am and purring all night like a micro diesel engine. Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing. How do parents cope?

Retro blogging

Having been out and about over the festive season with a thousand "To Do" items at home has left little time for blogging. So the following are playing catch up. But I leave the dates as they are, it would not be right to spoof the date to make them look like historic posts. Where is that Blog Netiquette Guide when you need it, eh?

Feline alarm call

Who needs an alarm clock when you have a furry friend trying to tunnel her way into the bedroom through the laminate flooring. So I got up for a pee to discover the cat had beaten me to it. Only instead of the litter tray she had used the bathroom floor. Mopping out is not how I had hoped to start my day.

I tiptoed out leaving Mary pushing out Z-Z-Zs. It had been a long evening; Mary travelling down from Scotland and me doing serial drinking:
• First with a colleague for a quick glass of wine after work.
• Then down to Norbiton on the train for Chris and Sue's "At Home". Chris lectures in Space Technology at Kingston Poly University.
• Finally back to Wandsworth to meet Mary off the train from Stansted for a night cap at Konnigans.

In bed just after midnight and only a long-stop alarm. I would have really appreciated that extra hour's sleep but I had reckoned without Cleo. I must try clipping her claws sometime.

Farnham Potlatch

It was a usual pre-Christmas Potlatch in which the family assemble on the last Sunday before the 25th and exchange presents.

To avoid extravagant or competitive giving we agreed some years back to limit ourselves to frivolous presents at the price range of a paperback or a CD. There was no point in spending large sums of money on something the recipient was half-hearted about receiving and might simply end up at Oxfam or Cancer Relief.

For most things if we had wanted it we would have already been out and bought it for ourselves. I stop treating myself to movies and music around my birthday in September just in case Santa has it on his list.

It takes the strain out of present choosing:
a) because Mary does it all anyway [thank you dear] and
b) no tears are shed if it does go straight to the charity shop.

So we can afford to buy silly things that bring a smile. Apart from the nephews who just want money so they that can choose their own and my gift to Mary for which it is traditional to go well over budget.

Toasted Mars Bar on brown

Listening to the Radio 4 item this morning on the Deep Fried Mars Bar (apparently it is real not an urban myth) took me back to my early years in London back in 1979.

Working at Coopers & Lybrand in Noble Street, EC2 we would frequent the local sandwich bar, Piccolo's. They would make to order whatever you wanted - the usual stuff: cheese and tomato, ham and cream cheese, cream cheese and pineapple, ham and pineapple.

Someone said "Yecch! Ham and pineapple!" The debate ensued with popular examples of meat and fruit combinations: gammon and pineapple, duck á l'orange, chicken maryland. The wife of a colleague was known to be partial to bacon and banana.

This lead on to silly suggestions for fillings which spiralled out of control until we got to "Toasted Mars Bar on brown" ('cos that would make it healthy then).

Bron challenged "If you eat it I'll pay for it." And it was delicious <g>