The man of the moment

We took the train down to London this morning, leaving the kids in the capable hands of my parents. We took advantage of the kid-free day to go and see a couple of exhibitions: the Points of View exhibition at the British Library (tracing the development of photography through the 19th century) and the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Both were superb - and have given me lots to think about.

The reason we were in London was for a 40th birthday party - the first of many over the next 12 months or so. Dinner was in a wonderful Italian restaurant - including a whole suckling pig (we didn't quite finish it). Here is Chris, the man of the moment jotting down a few notes for a speech that was heckled so thoroughly that I'm not sure the notes were any help! We then headed on for a cocktail (Lemon Meringue Martini - so much nicer than it sounds) before bed (at 4am, groan - too old for this, etc etc).

But really, a wonderful night with lots of reminiscing, setting the world to rights and general tomfoolery.

We worked out that mine is the next 40th.... But I still have a few months to come to terms with it!