Birthday celebrations?

So, it's Keith's birthday today and before we all left for work and school he opened his pressies and cards and was very pleased with them (hopefully!).

It was also a good day to get his new car!

Our little Honda Jazz

It's been another beautiful day today, despite the early rain first thing this morning. I spent most of the day shredding loads of old paperwork and making a real mess in my office! When it was time to go and pick up Keith's car I went with him and then followed him home so we could return the Mini to Mum and Dad.

On my way back to work I took my dirty car through the car wash as the bonnet was covered in muddy cat footprints. They'd better not make a mess on Keith's car otherwise there will be trouble!

Sophie and I managed to get away at 6pm and drove home to get ready for Keith's Birthday meal. He wanted to go to The Lamplighter in town and as we'd had such a nice evening there last month we all thought it was a great choice.

We left at 7pm with a grumbling Sophie asking why we had to leave so early...as it turned out it was a good thing! I'd found out there was a quiz night on, but we didn't think it would matter as it didn't start until almost 9pm and we would be gone by then anyway. We queued at the bar for our drinks and then received a bit of a shock when the barmaid told us that Mikey wasn't allowed in after 7pm as under 18s weren't welcome! We could have gone and sat in the "snug" on the understanding that we would have to leave immediately after we'd eaten!

With that attitude we decided to have our drinks and leave, which was a huge shame as Keith and I love this pub and were really looking forward to having a nice meal there. The beer that Keith chose was great, he said, so it was a pain to have to think about where we could go as an alternative. We briefly thought about The Britannia but in the end we chose the Queen's Arms in Orlingbury and Sophie called them on the way to make sure they had a table free!

Unfortunately, it wasn't the most successful of evenings...It looked like there was a Farmer Giles convention going on and not a single other person was eating. We sat at the back of the pub and chilled out...but not in a good way! Brrr!

We chose from the menu with the children deciding on cheesy garlic bread, Keith opting for whitebait and the pate of the day for me. I was then told that the pate "didn't look right" so I went for the creamy mushrooms instead. My main course of a selection of sausages with mustard mash was tasteless, except for the very last banger which tasted very strange indeed. I think it's the first time in my life I've ever left a sausage on my plate...yuk!

By the time we finished our meal at just after 9pm we were the only ones left in the pub so I paid the bill (my Birthday treat) and left to go to the local shop to buy a tub of ice-cream for the wee ones' dessert.

Back home Keith and I indulged in a slice of my fruit cake (so relieved it hadn't dried out!), a glass of whiskey for me and a tot of Brandy for Keith. Cheers!