In partes tres

Truly a day of three well- defined parts. (And the title comes from Julius Caesar’s account De Bello Gallico - but you all recognised it instantly, didn’t you?)

First of all we went shopping with Alan, our older grandson . For years now we’ve been in the habit of taking our granddaughters shopping for their birthdays, but this is the first time we’ve had a chance to do it with one of the boys. The shops were much the same , in the St James’s Centre, as we frequent with Catriona, the actual choosing rather more brisk. It was entirely delightful.

Then Neil collected us from the appointed place and we were off to watch … another football match. James was captaining his Spartans team for a game which didn’t end as well as he’d have hoped; I’ll just say the second half was less entertaining than the first. The match was played in a cage, which  reminded me of games we watched in places south of Croydon, being practically destined to appear in every photo and cut off moments of real excitement.Back at the house, I realised I might never feel warm again.

The day ended in a family birthday dinner in The Cool Jade - a Chinese restaurant I haven’t been in since before Lockdown. It was jolly, the wine flowed, my dinner was perfect, there was cake with a firework. We sang.

Now back at the house drinking tea, and feeling warm. cheers!