Playing with fire

Alex was 21 today - and the weather was truly hideous - the worst it's ever been on his birthday - heavy rain all day. Luckily we had our trip to Cambridge on Saturday, and are planning another outing to London on Thursday. So he had a lazy day, finished up with a birthday meal containing some of his favourite dishes - antipasti to start, slow-roast silverside of beef with all the trimmings for the main course and rice-pudding with forest fruits for dessert. Of course, plenty of wine was drunk! We always finish celebrations meals with Bendicks' mints - and then use the wrappers to make paper planes or other origami objects. Sometimes they are set alight in the candle flames - Alex has always had a fascination with fire, which fortunately is put to good use in his conservation work!