My Big Eight-O Birthday!
Yes, I know. I haven't been writing on my blog for a little while, but I have had a very good reason for being preoccupied recently... and I celebrated my big 80th birthday on Saturday, 28th March.
It was a wonderful day. Wendy came over to collect us, and we drove into London; we had a table booked at Fortnum and Mason’s, for a cream tea. People were asking if I was going to have a big party (a couple of hundred guests, perhaps?!) but that isn’t my style – I only wanted my nearest and dearest, all my loved ones, to enjoy the day with me, and I was so contented.
Going into London, we also had an adventure; we had not realised there was a big march due to take place. Starting at about 1.00 p.m., the Police said they were expecting up to 500,000 (!) people to march down Piccadilly, and into Trafalgar Square, all protesting and waving flags; it was good humoured, but generally made it impossible for ordinary people to drive into central London.
Wendy is always resourceful, and when we realised we were not going to be able to reach our pre-booked parking reservation in Arlington Street, she said, “Right, let’s find somewhere else to park!” and we headed towards Knightsbridge (where Harrods is). Down by a side road, we saw a big sign with a “P” parking sign up; as we inched down that road, someone got into a car parked on one side, and drove off, leaving a perfect space free for us. As a bonus, we then discovered that parking in this road is FREE after 1.30 p.m. on Saturdays – so we were very grateful for that!
The only thing was, we were about a mile away from Fortnum and Mason, so we set off to walk all the way down Piccadilly, to reach Fortnum and Mason! Not forgetting I was wearing silvery spangle celebration shoes, with high heels, I thought this might be a problem, but remembering what they said about Ginger Rogers ("She does everything Fred Astaire does, except she does it backwards, and in high heels!") I rose to the challenge, and arrived for my tea in good time.
Al and Dani came up to London by train, so they didn’t have to find parking, and oh, it was such a happy afternoon.
I had my special, very plain sandwiches ordered: simple white bread and butter (lots of extra butter, too!) and cucumber - no sauces, oils or trimmings required - and I was well served. Of course, I also enjoyed plain scones, butter and strawberry jam, and some elegant little cakes; and then our waitress brought out a plate with "Happy 80th Birthday" written in chocolate icing on the side, and two more special little cakes on it, just for me.
It was such a special occasion! Apart from the cream tea, I also had many dear friends write to me, sending beautiful birthday gifts and cards with happy wishes, and telephone calls so that we could talk personally and share time on my birthday.
When we set off for home, Al and Dani went back to Victoria Station to catch the train back to Hampshire; in consideration of my heroic walk to Fortnum and Mason, we then took a taxi back to where we had left our car, all the way back up Piccadilly.
Wendy hailed a cab (with the march over, by then traffic was flowing!) and we were soon bowling merrily along. A special bonus for Wendy was that she remembered this was the first time she had been in a London Taxi Cab since she was 8 years old! All those years ago, when she was a little girl, Wendy, her dad and I had been to the New Theatre Royal London in Drury Lane, to see the musical Cats - the show based on the poems by TS Eliot, in "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." Brian Blessed, playing the role of Old Deuteronomy, stayed on stage during the interval, and Wendy - who knew all the music from the show, joined him and sang a couple of songs with him. Whilst Wendy was on stage, her dad, who had bought us all an ice cream cone, then had to hold both her ice cream and his own. He was so proud and thrilled for her, he forgot to eat his; he had tears of happiness running down his face, not realising both ice creams were melting in the heat of the theatre! Such a tender memory that we all hold dear.
My Grandma used to say, we must all treasure our memories, for as we get older, we need happy times to look back on. My 80th birthday will always remain in that wonderful place.
Apollo guarding some of my beautiful birthday cards!
No comments:
Post a Comment