Birthday Surprise

Kathy asked me for a shortlist of places I would like to go for my birthday lunch. As I know the area well, and would quickly guess where we were going, she blindfolded me and made me wear headphones, so I couldn’t hear or see anything on the way.

Hoodwinked Cab Ride
Hoodwinked!

I was taken to The Jolly Coopers at Hampton, to eat at their Squiffy’s Restaurant. Also there were Dennis and Tim. We had a really pleasant afternoon and some good food and beer.

At Squiffy's
At Squiffy’s, Hampton.

After we left there we walked up Station Road. As the bus wasn’t due for another ten minutes Kathy and I dropped into The World’s End. It seems to have been taken over by Greene King though, as all they had on cask was Abbot Ale and London Glory (which I’ve never heard of). I had a quick pint of Abbot and we left, walked across the street and took the 111 to the Queen’s Head for a couple more beers to finish off the day.

Ian At the Queen's Head
Yours Truly At The Queen’s Head

We didn’t stay late as we had both had enough to eat and drink and in any case I had to get up early the next morning to go back to the grind.

Another Trip Around The Sun

It’s that time of the year again. Today marks my birthday, but the need to the festivities for another year. As I start my sixty-fourth revolution around our nearest star, I take a brief look back to 2021.

We were certainly in a better position than this time last year. We both had Covid-19; Kathy was about to go to hospital for two weeks, and there were no vaccines on the horizon. Now, we double jabbed with a booster and, at this moment in time, relatively healthy. I’ve started a new course of treatment for my Crohn’s, which hasn’t given me any major issues in any case. For both of work, work goes on as before, although there are surely storm clouds on the horizon in the transport industry. We shall see; time will tell.

El Dorado Rum

On a lighter note, Kathy bought me this delicious rum for Christmas, and it was rather late in arriving. I couldn’t have any for New Year’s as I was working New Year’s Day, so I opened it for the first time last evening and had a shot. This is around £50 a bottle. There’s also a 25 year old vintage which retails on Amazon for £463. Someone has plenty of money though as there’s apparently only three left in stock! If I win a decent prize on the lottery during 2022 perhaps I’ll grab a bottle, if there’s any left! I’m not going to hold my breath!

Today I’m being taken out to lunch, but Kathy won’t tell me where, so I’ll write about my surprise in a later posting!