Cheers, chums!

It's very late - about an hour past my usual late posting time - because I fell irresistibly asleep downstairs after eating a very proper dinner to make up for yesterday (peppered local venison steaks, flash fried ... more chocolate cake, this time with the addition of fresh raspberries and yogurt ... my favourite champagne, La Castellane from Épernay) and felt too tired to stand up, let alone get myself upstairs. My birthday brought an array of carefully selected gifts from my family (and Di) and right now I'm so tired they're all still sitting neatly arrayed in strange places waiting for me to put them somewhere sensible. Himself deployed great ingenuity in acquiring a copy of the New Testament in four languages including English - I've wanted one since I found a polyglot gospel in my hotel bedside drawer in Italy a couple of years ago, and hadn't been able to track one down since. There's nothing quite like reading a familiar text in a language other than your own - both for one's language skills and for the increase in depth of understanding. And then he gave me watercolour pencils ... and fine ink drawing pens ... 

But the day marched on into Pilates, where we did some new exercises described as being "relaxing' - I'll say: so knackering that I could barely stand up by the time the hour was finished! I felt like one of these dolls whose limbs and head were all strung on by the same elastic band: when the elastic perished and had to be replaced, the limbs and head all dangled in a horrid manner. That was me ...

But I managed to fit in my Italian homework afterwards, with a strong coffee. I fried some sourdough starter for lunch - I've been so remiss with the bread-making - and had time to read the local paper before going upstairs to a Vestry meeting. Much to discuss, with a very patient chairman keeping us to time. By the time it was over I was too tired to think of going out. Besides, it was dreich and damp outside and we were both feeling the lack of real food.

I had a lovely face-time with my granddaughters and their mum - poor Anna had just had a milk tooth pulled, at 14 - her first teeth are apparently very unwilling to come out by themselves and inhibit the growth of the next ones. I'm looking forward to seeing them all in person soon.

And I didn't fall asleep once during the conclusion of the Midnight Sleeper saga, though I had a bit of trouble following the computer speak. I was told it grew increasingly bonkers, but I have always been very good at engaging the willing suspension of disbelief. Did we all learn about that at school when we began reading ballads? 

Anyway, happy birthday to me. It's been a blast. And it's just struck 1am ...