Happy Birthday

I gave Josh the rest of his 21 gifts today. There were 21 creme eggs  - his chocolate past, and bars of good quality chocolates - his chocolate future as he moves into manhood and I challenge him to go for quality not quantity.

I also gave him the copy of John Hunt's The Ascent of Everest that was given to my father in 1953 at around the same age, by Josh's great grandparents Arch and Lucy. He also received the cork from the bottle of champagne his Italian grandfather opened on news of his birth complete with Italian lira for good fortune; the St Christopher and a gold sovereign from grandfathers Aldo and Corrado respectively. He received Rossellini's Rome:Open City on DVD and Mary Beard's SPQR to keep him connected to the city of his birth and his ancestry as a Roman.

Other gifts were more flippant - funny socks and undies, a blow up lounger for festivals in the summer.

We had a great Skype call with Beewriter and Gi, Carol and family came over with the cousins for a couple of hours chaos and caterpillar cakes! He's gone now, back in Swansea and I won't see him again until Easter.