LOCKDOWN BIRTHDAYS

Little did we know that half of us in the UK were going to end up with a lockdown birthday this year. How depressing. It’s not particularly easy to make it fun for our children when all they want to do is have a huge party with all their friends. To be honest, it’s my birthday this week too and all I want to do is have a huge party with all my friends, so I’m feeling their pain (but obviously trying to be the grownup at the same time).

The difficulty is not only because you can’t see friends and family but also with trying to choose presents for them. Cash? Not allowed to use it anymore.  Clothing/shoes? Will they arrive in time? Will they fit? What if they need to be changed and the post office queue is a mile long (or closed or the shop isn’t open for another month? Is it worth buying them that festival ticket they wanted? Will it even be on? Or what about that weekend away? The meal out? The theatre trip? Bloody hell, really the only safe things to buy at the moment are jigsaw puzzles and colouring books, but my children would kill me, so I decided that we must remain hopeful and positive.  I bought my daughter the festival ticket that fingers crossed will happen next year.  We must have faith that once the vaccine has arrived (if the those bloody minks don’t mess that up in the meantime), we will once again be able to sit on random shoulders, lose all our belongings, snog strangers and hug each other to our hearts content.

It was my daughter’s TWENTY FIFTH birthday on Friday, which meant that the week was a little top heavy as she rushed out and celebrated in the last remaining days before lockdown began on Thursday 5th. In the meantime, we had to be a little creative for the evening of her birthday as it was just me and her brothers allowed so we had to make full use of the broom as a microphone and also as a limbo stick. We had to drink a lot of alcohol and sing a lot of terrible songs, as you can imagine, in order to get through it, but I think we managed to make it fun (judging by the photographic evidence).

On the Tuesday before lockdown we managed to get a booking in the wonderful Al Boccon Di’ Vino meaning “A divine mouthful” of exquisite Venetian food and wine. The intimate family run restaurant in Richmond is headed up by the larger than life Simona Gilmenau, a real character. Course after course arrives, there is no menu, even for the wine, so you don’t get to choose, but you don’t need a choice, it’s all delicious and plentiful – twelve courses of pure delight, that have never disappointed and then you waddle home. It’s not cheap (especially if you’re taking out all your children and competing with them on who can drink the wine the fastest so that you can have the remainder of the bottle before it’s gone – not a good game, always goes wrong – well in that I get cross because I’m paying and they’re taking the piss):-

My slightly prophetic birthday card:-

Brunch:-

Birthday walk:-

Birthday Tiramisu (that I made!!)

So I really hope she had a happy day despite the limitations and that this lockdown will work in terms of getting the R rate back down in time for Christmas.  I was meant to go back to work last week, starting on Tuesday, but on Monday I got furloughed again!  ANYWAY.  GREAT NEWS ABOUT BIDEN.  Clearly we all needed that.  A real boost.

A friend dropped round some flowers – they can help cheer you up when inside – just gorgeous:-

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