Birthday celebrations!

It's been a bitterly cold day today and the temperature never rose above freezing. It was Mike's 17th birthday and before he left with Keith to go to college he opened his presents and cards. Sophie had bought him some very hot chilli sauces and he was looking forward to trying them later in the day! It was a shame he had to go to college but at least we have a celebration dinner to look forward to this evening.

Sophie had a blood test booked at Guilsborough surgery this morning and I was very careful driving over there in case the rural roads were icy. I dropped her off at uni afterwards and drove home where I managed to do some more of my assignment - it's nearly finished!

Both Sophie and I had a hair appointment at 4.15pm and luckily my daughter was out before 4 o'clock. We sped off to salon and managed to park in the middle of Moulton which is a miracle these days as the village is very busy. Sophie went first and had her ends lopped off by a very knowledgeable guy who, when it was my turn, gave me lots of tips to keep my hair in good condition. Both of us leave having our hair trimmed for too long (I think it's been four months!) and the ends of my hair were quite dry. By the time he'd finished with both of us, we looked a whole lot better!

It was lovely to get home and jump into the bath before we got ready to go out. Mike tried one of his sauces and said his tongue had gone numb! They won't get me trying them! At 7pm we left to go to The Han in Market Harborough and when we arrived Mike queried where we were going...apparently he had wanted to go to The Oriental Paradise in Billing instead! Oh dear! Mum and Dad had already arrived and my Dad was freezing as they'd been waiting in the downstairs lounge which didn't have any heating.

This turned out to be the theme of the evening as the upstairs restaurant was cold as well. There were a few other tables occupied and there were lots of decorations up for the Chinese New Year which is on the 28 January.

We all chose the Han Banquet and Mike opened his presents from my parents - cash and some smellies. You really can't go wrong with those for a teenage boy! The meal we had was lovely and the food and wine very good, but we all felt the chill in the restaurant and I think it was made worse by the freezing temperatures outside. At the end of the meal we were the only ones left in the place and we asked the staff to box up the leftover food because there was an awful lot of it! Mum and Dad will enjoy it for their lunch tomorrow!

When we got home I made Sophie and Mike a chocolate sundae instead of a birthday cake and this went down very well with both of them! Sophie said it was one of the best things I'd ever done!