A BIRTHDAY PARTY

 

A few days ago I had a party chez nous.

Over the years I have been invited to numerous parties of various kinds in France and have been very envious of those people with summer birthdays.  Mine is just before Christmas.

I'm sure that anyone who has a birthday at around that time will agree with me that it's a rubbish time of year for it.  The nearer to Christmas you get, the more other people are preoccupied with the shopping and the office parties.  Then there's the weather to contend with.  I remember that for my fortieth I booked a themed restaurant for twenty people for a rock and roll kind of evening and only about six turned up.  The rest couldn't get there due to the thick fog.  And don't start me on the "joint present" - the ultimate disappointment for any kid unfortunate enough to be born in the second half of December.   

These days if we celebrate by going out to eat we will usually be knee deep in tinsel and surrounded by groups of people getting sloshed at the boss's expense.  The menu would usually be the Christmas menu of turkey and sprouts (a choice of salmon if you're lucky) and the music "seasonal".

So this year I thought that if it's good enough for Her Majesty, it's good enough for me and decided to have an "official" birthday and a party three months early - while the sun was still shining and it was still light at four o'clock in the afternoon!

So last weekend, as I turned 69¾, I had my own little birthday party in the garden.  The weather was perfect - warm and sunny but not too hot.  Friends loaned us a pair of gazebos to house the buffet table and the bar.  Bunting was strung up, music was played and we had a thoroughly good time.  After dark the deer entertained us with their calls to each other from one bit of the surrounding forest to another, the foxes joined in and, as people drifted away, I thought this had been the best party I had ever been to in my whole life.