A proud day

Back in around 2003 I started my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. With great intrepidness and adventure I ploughed on through silver like a natural born mountain man and started ticking off the boxes for gold as if they were no more than a walk down the pavement.
Misfortune waylaid me part way through gold and I began to lose the ambition of completing it. I learnt that friends were putting it on their CV even if they hadn't completed it, and I began to lose hope in the purity of the award.

Fortunately I was persuaded to complete my expedition with some new 'friends' in 2011 and after missing out on collecting my award for several years I finally managed to go and meet Philip at the palace this summer. He was remarkably well for his age, and I was inspired to now go on to University and forge a career for myself to build on this achievement. Hooray.

In the evening we had our first ever michelin starred meal, as a gift to my parents. I could certainly get used to eating like that on a more regular basis...