Where to Start? Part II: Saturday

My BIRTHDAY!!!! Yay! I love birthdays - all those fab pressies and an excuse to do exactly what you want to do all day long. If anyone raises their eyebrows you just say, archly, 'Well, it is my birthday.' Of course, due to the excitement, I woke up early, eagerly awaiting my gifts and breakfast in bed. Well, I got the first, but had to make my own breakfast once I got up - clearly hubby still needs some training... Although he does do very well at buying excellent pressies. Due to my advancing years, my main pressie was a Nintendo DS Lite with Brain Training. At my first attempt, my brain age was calculated at 73 (!!!), but on the next go I had it down to 28 - much better! Apparently 20 is the youngest you can be, which must be a bit disappointing if you happen to be a teenaged brain trainer.

Other pressies from hubby included a necklace that he had bought way back when we were travelling in Guatemala, 'T is for Trespass' by Sue Grafton, 'The Careful Use of Compliments' by Alexander McCall Smith, 'Death of a Gossip' by MC Beaton, a Pilsbury DoughBoy Xmas decoration bought in Vermont, an Emma Bridgwater tea towel, some smellies, and tickets to see Carols by Candlelight at the Royal Albert Hall on December 21 - how lovely is that? And, last but by no means least, he baked me a birthday cake in the form of fairy cakes with chocolate drops. Isn't he just the bestest hubby anyone could ask for?

Hubby's parents got me two CDs - one by Take That and one by Scissor Sisters; my parents bought me some clothes, some smellies and sent me some money too; Tania got me a book all about travelling without flying; and Liz got me some smellies (anyone see a theme here? should I develop a complex re personal hygiene?), and an extremely apt mug which features the tag line 'I listed Starbucks as my emergency contact at work'. It would be true if I'd thought of it.


After a breakfast of yummy croissants we set off for Bath, via a tiny craft fair at Bix village hall. We got to the Park & Ride c 1pm and managed to squeeze the car on to a grass verge nearby since the car park was full. Luckily we didn't have to wait long for a bus as it was absolutely freeeeezing, and we were in the centre of Bath by about 1.30pm.It would seem that the entire western hemisphere had decided to go to Bath that day to help me celebrate my birthday, which was nice of them, although in all honesty I wish they'd all just stayed at home. The place was jam packed, making it nigh-on impossible to get to the stalls in the Christmas market - which was the main reason we had gone there.We managed to buy two hot dogs (a must at any Christmas event, clearly) and a Christmas tree decoration, but that was about it, apart from the free cup of mulled wine - yum! By about 4.30pm I was pooped so we decided to go home. On the way home hubby said I could choose where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner and, to his utmost disgust, I chose TGI Fridays! Poor hubby spent most of the journey home along the M4 trying to persuade me to go somewhere else, but my mind was made up. Let's blame it on the hormones... Luckily the food was served very quickly so hubby didn't have to spend too long in his own personal idea of hell, and we were home by about 8pm, and I was in bed by about 9.30 - rock and roll!