Picking elderflowers

A memorable day today. Susan working unfortunately but it meant that I was up early as well and out at the gym by 9.00am. Completed an "old man's" triathlon - 1km swim, 16km cycle ride and a 3.5km run. Not bad for a 59 year old. Rewarded myself with a decaff cappuccino in Starbucks.

Then home and on the bike to collect elderflowers to make this year's champagne. This is the tree we used last year, it's in Holy Cross churchyard near the Woodland Trust - a place we're often walking in.

After lunch made the champagne brew which will take 4 days to steep. Then unwrapped my new Iphone 5 and got that working. Minimalist is OK, but I had to search the internet to find out how to insert the SIM.

I then wheeled a large home made plant container, which had been residing on our patio, up to the allotment.

I said it was a memorable day, and it was being as it was my 59th birthday. I'm very proud of the fact that 25th June is exactly half way between Christmases. So the phone was a birthday present (it's on a contract but we had to pay towards the phone) and I had a nice lot of cards and presents to open. Doing a birthday triathlon is becoming a bit of a tradition - this is at least the second time I've done it. I wonder whether I'll do the same next year?

There then followed a lovely evening - rhubarb champagne (excellent), nibbles, steak meal with wine, birthday cake and coffee.

As I said, a memorable day.