It was a lovely day. Frances, Stew and Phoebe came round early. My daughter has always had a penchant for arranging appropriate birthday gifts and celebrations.
There was a beautiful chocolate orange flavoured cake with green and white butter cream icing - homemade locally. Then there were two pairs of braces (American: suspenders) - I am wearing one pair in the photograph. There were chocolates, "Maltesers", bottles of local beers from Bakewell and the pièce de résistance - a generous £400 hotel voucher that our Ian had also contributed to. Wow!
Shirley had bought me a new pair of walking boots on Friday.
We set off for Froggat in The Peak District at one o'clock. I had booked us in for Sunday lunch at "The Chequers Inn" at one thirty. It was a marvellous roast dinner. As I was about to pay for it, the pub-restaurant landlord asked if everything had been all right and I was happy to provide a glowing and unqualified commendation. We all agreed that every element had been quite delicious.
We went home to eat birthday cake and I had previously bought a bottle of Laurent-Perrier champagne to wash it down. After a teatime nap, I spoke to our Ian on the telephone for half an hour before visiting "The Hammer and Pincers" for the Sunday quiz. My friend Mike brought me a thoughtful gift - drawing pens and a pad of good quality art paper. My friend Mick had made me a special Hull City themed birthday card on his computer. Unfortunately, we did not win the quiz, massively overestimating the length of "The Titanic" in the tie-break.
This morning another nice gift arrived on our doormat - a book from Meike in Germany which brings together essays from "The Sunday Times" magazine - specifically from the section called "A Day in the Life Of...". I used to pick up that newspaper every Sunday and always made a point of reading that section. Thank you Meike!
I have very rarely shared pictures of myself on this humble Yorkshire blog but on such a milestone day and with lovely Phoebe on my knee I decided to make an exception. We were about to read "The Three Little Pigs" as we waited for our roast dinners to arrive. Perhaps we should have ordered roast pork and not beef!
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/rWtPEcu