Two major things happened to me this week. I became a great uncle again, and I became an OAP. The former was thanks to Mitchie and Nathalia, the latter was thanks to the inexorable arrow of time. My great nephew is called Arlo and my age is old. Though, as Mirinda said, first thing this morning I was the youngest OAP in the country.
To celebrate my dubious milestone, I was given the choice of what I wanted to do today. My main choice was, essentially, nothing. Apart from dinner at the Chesil, of course.
I did rather fancy going to the Holly Bush for brunch. So we did, and I had a lovely cheese and tuna melt as a change from my usual HB Breakfast. Brunch was followed by a lovely long read overlooking the cricket ground while Mirinda took the girls on a country tramp.
And this is NOT a country tramp.
I’m currently reading Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty, Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh, Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and Free by Lea Ypi. I find if I read a chapter of one then change to the next book for a chapter and so on and so forth, I never get bored with a single book. Of course, I don’t do that when I read a Sharpe book because it’s pretty impossible getting bored reading about Richard Sharpe.
It was while reading Around India in 80 Trains that I came across the phrase ‘Oh my dog!’ which was mistakenly uttered by a young Indian man who learned English by listening to popular music. I told Mirinda and we’ve both decided to use OMD rather than the usual OMG. For a dog loving atheist, it makes a lot more sense.
Anyway, a little while later, Mirinda returned and we drove home where I spent a lot of the afternoon watching the first episode of the new Narcos: Mexico series and a very silly episode of Monty Python.
Eventually, of course, it was time to leave for the Chesil and the usual delicious repast which, for me, was pigeon, followed by duck, finishing with crème brûlée. It was an excellent birthday dinner.
I’m very glad to say that my suit still fits perfectly.