Birthday festivities

These started last Saturday with a surprise party.

I had said some months ago that I expected a surprise party for my sixtieth birthday. (People need to be aware that we're sixty and we're not far off retirement!) However my birthday coincided with the visit of a team from the UK, so it wasn't going to be an easy thing to plan. Thankfully, I am an easy person to dupe.

So Mrs Davey, having loaned her key to friend William the previous day for evidently sensible reasons, coaxed me out to our nearest classy coffee shop, Oven Heaven. We settled down and drank our coffees, then we needed to get some shopping, so I was relatively easily persuaded to trudge off to Lidl. With our milk, butter, cheese, vegetables, fruit, power drill, ski-pants and folding stool safely stowed in our vast bags, we set off. The heaviest things I'd put in my rucksack, then we shared out the other bags and set off like donkeys on the dusty road.

As we got into the flat I was puzzled by how light it was. Hadn't I lowered the shutters. "It's very..."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

People were hidden around the door. Then food appeared as well as a rather spectacular cake, which the master of ceremonies insisted that I cut. "Alan is now going to cut the cake!"

My birthday was on the Thursday, so I'd inveigled someone into bringing a caterpillar cake from the UK. There were three other birthdays that week, so we had a good time wishing a happy birthday to Alan, James, Thierry and Tom.

The UK team had come to run an Easter kids club and it went very well, with 18 kids. Their parents mostly stayed with them, so we may need to take that into account when we plan another.


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