Birthday Cake Fireworks

L baked me a coffee and walnut cake, and upon presenting it to me produced a small package to adorn the top - it simply read 'Ice Fountain.' As you can see, there was rather a lot more fire than ice, but they were true to their word with fountain. I was very impressed, but then I must confess to being a bit of a pyro in liking this kind of thing. The acrid, sulphurous that followed was not so pleasant (and nothing at all to do with me).

The cake (and 'ice' fountain) made an upbeat end to a pretty pointless afternoon of waiting around for a courier - I hate citylink right now. Their website promised delivery today, their phone line was so busy (probably with complaints) that it punted me off without any hold music at all - only suggesting I check their site for details - so I stuck with it. I eventually resolved, as the light faded, that they were not coming. Apparently the package is not even in Edinburgh - they have it somewhere, just not here. That they knew it was not going to be delivered today did not seem to them to be relevant information to be passed on to the poor sap waiting in his house. Nope, nothing to do with them, not their problem. Insult to injury that I've even gained most of my throat and voice back now, so the outside is calling (shouting in fact).

I think I should leave this here now, before the rant goes any further. I don't imagine anyone has made it this far down, and I don't blame you. If you have and are reading this - I salute you, you are some sort of trooper. Please accept my apologies, it doesn't get any better here and there is no reward for your uncommon perseverance. I'll just finish up wishing you all the best, unless you work for citylink...in which case you can &%$*£ *(£@^%&£$ T(@@^* &^%$@*&^.

Good firework-y thing though, and thank you for all the birthday wishes and presents. It was a good day, despite my tome of a rant.

Edit:
I should also add that L then took me out for a delicious meal at a fine local restaurant, more than topping off the day. Wood pigeon...ribeye steak...scottish cheese selection...a beautiful pinot noir...and an espresso to finish it all off, couldn't ask for more