Pisht (birthday) pshyt.

Now that was an entirely acceptable birthday.

A surpriseing amount of love form the office - three cards, two CDs of Basque music, a PS2 game, Wii stuff, a cake and lunch. Quite brought a lump to my throat. And I totally powned the weekly meeting, keeping everyone from killing each other in fromt of our new spanichsw overlords wihome I dfor one welceome,. although none of them wiil  thank me.

Then back home for surprise huge lump of sheep and erven surpriser desert from unblinkered  cool person that she is. The sheep was fantastic, but the starter and desert were out of this worjhd.

Company for dinner was K (friend fior 28 years) James (15 years) and Eddie (33 years). Not a bad bundch.

After dinner, whisky and Singstar. Sweet home alalblalalama neve sounded so sweet. Mayne we should have skiped Club Tropicana though.

Hsppy Mathoms to you all. Listiening to Lyle Lovett, feeling pretty mellow, and a day off tomorrow. Let;s face it,. life may not get better than thims.

Many Happy Returns...

Had a great birthday (and thanks to all who wished me one, either here or on FB - your wishes were granted).

To begin with, I got a bushel of gifts at work, which I hadn't expected at all. Really thoughtful things too. I even got taken for lunch. After that the fiercely political meeting I chaired in the afternoon didn't annoy me at all.

Last night unblinkered  made a fantastic dinner for five - my friends Kay, James and Eddie came over. We had skewered prawns marinaded in mint, lemon and garlic, then our organic leg of mutton in a herb crust with polenta and carrots, and then a honey and nut parfait to end with. It was a fabulous meal, and all the more impressive for being unblinkered's first Moroccan themed meal. She is fabulously talented, and I'm a lucky man.

Alcohol consumption was high, and of good quality (which seems to have contributed to my lack of hangover). Champagne, good wines, a couple of malts. This may explain why Singstar came out after dinner. James had a stab at "Ring of Fire", Eddie demured, and we had to prise the microphone from Kay's cold, dead fingers. unblinkered  won.

I'd booked today off as a holiday, so a lazy lie in was followed by a MacDonald's breakfast, and then a wander around the street I lived in 38 years ago. The old tenenments have been replaced by workshops - a bike charity operates from the old address - and a new road cuts across the old one. I did a little bit of trying to overlay my memories from when I was seven on the place.

Then we had a brief stroll along the canal, before I decided I didn't like the look of that bloody swan.

Crocuses and daffs are out all along the canal and the Kelvin now. I like having my birthday in Spring- birth and rebirth all wrapped up together.

This afternoon my mum and her husband, my brother, his girlfriend and my two nieces are coming over for Kaffe and Kuchen.

Tomorrow morning we pick up unblinkered's mum from the ferry and drive to the cottage for the weekend.

Life is good.