Happy Birthday to You

Lola at her birthday lunch

Calum, Lola and Phoebe

Nic and me at Fratellis

Lola and me

'Grandad', Lola and 'Granny'

Lola with her special birthday card

Mum at The Olive Branch

Birthday Season
Summer is definitely the season for birthdays in our family.

My Mum's is on 14 July (the same day as my friend, Nic), Lola's is on 27 July and Joe's is on 17 August - so there are plenty of reasons to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Mum!
In spite of one of the worst summers in history, the sun shone on 14 July which made it the perfect day for taking Mum out for a special birthday lunch.

We went to a beautiful country pub in the heart of Rutland, the award-winning Olive Branch.

We first went to The Olive Branch last year and Mum loved the picturesque setting and fabulous food, so I decided to take her again.

When you go back to a place, you can sometimes be disappointed because it doesn't live up to your expectations but The Olive Branch came up trumps. The setting was perfect, the weather glorious, the staff attentive and the food still fabulous.

It was good to spend time with Mum on my own. It gave us a chance to chat and catch up with each other which made it really special. Times like that are very precious and Mum and I had a really wonderful time which is exactly how birthdays should be!

Happy Birthday Lola!
Lola didn't just have a birth-day, she had a whole weekend!

Then again it's not every day you turn 14. :)

Once gain, Joe made her a fantastic card, based on the Manga art which she so loves.

I took the day off work which meant I had a long weekend and a very welcome break from work.

Lola's godmother, Nic, and her daughter, Phoebe, came over from Milton Keynes and we all went for lunch at Fratellis. We also went there last year - it seems this is a year for re-visiting places where we've had a great time.

Again, it didn't disappoint.

Apart from a horrendous journey because of an overturned lorry on the A1, we had a fantastic meal at the restaurant. We enjoyed the opportunity to spend time together as we hadn't seen Nic and Phoebe for several months.

Phoebe is simply stunning, not surprising considering she does modelling, but since turning 18 she seems to have blossomed even more.

To Calum and Lola, though, she's still the same old 'Phoebs' they've known all their lives and it was lovely to see how they picked up their friendship as if they'd seen each other the day before.

Nic and I did what we always do when we get together which is laugh our heads off at old 'in' jokes, flirt with the waiters and gossip non-stop. We once met up for lunch and managed to talk for five hours!

Lola looked lovely in her new birthday dress and thoroughly enjoyed her special day.

She got loads of presents, including a handbag, three pairs of shoes, two dresses and a top, plus lots of make-up. She also got a smart new mobile phone, so she did extremely well.

After Nic and Phoebs had left my Mum (aka 'Granny') and my step-dad came round for glass of champagne and a slice of birthday cake.

It was a lovely way to end the day.

However, the festivities didn't stop there. The following day Lola had a lunch party with her school friends. Again, the weather was glorious so they were able to sit outside.

They chatted, ate, watched dvds, chatted some more, ate some more (I'm amazed by how much teenage girls eat!) and generally had a great time.

One of Lola's friends stayed over, so they were up until the small hours giggling and gossiping.

Lola was a little bleary-eyed this morning but she said that it was definitely worth it.

The main thing is, she had a brilliant time.

Happy birthday Lola!

An Awayday in a Punt

Quayside at last!

Japanese tourists find us very amusing!

Some friendly swans.

A beautiful bridge on the 'backs'.

Hiring a punt.

I really like my boss.

He's brilliant fun.

So, when we had to decide on a venue for our team awayday, he decided it should be on a punt.

That's one of the joys of working in Cambridge, there's always a punt to hand!

Last year we did the same thing, but we didn't have a chauffeur as Paul punted.

It was a 'man' thing.

He had to show us all how good he was at punting and we had to admire his talent, which we duly did.

And he was good - until he'd had several glasses of Pimms and then his punting skills became decidedly less impressive. However, he did manage to stay in the punt and not end up in the water - and that took some doing.

So this year we had a chauffeur, or should that be a chauffeuse?

She was young, blond and pretty and it was her first day. Paul, being a caring, sharing sort of person took it upon himself to 'help' her.

She was too polite to say 'no' (especially as it was obvious he'd been drinking Pimms - again) and she actually looked quite relieved when he took over.

He did quite well until he had to 'park' the boat at Quayside and that's when everything went squiggly, much to the amusement of all the tourists and other various onlookers.

We were all quite happy as we were drinking Pimms and doing a bit of team bonding, as well as trying (and failing) to have serious discussions about work.

By the time we 'parked' at Quayside, we gave it up as a bad job and concentrated on the serious issue of quaffing cocktails.

Except that I'd already had enough alcohol for the day, being sorely out of practice, and had to settle for an elderflower water.

My head thanked me for it the next day when the hangovers kicked in and everyone came into the office looking a lesser shade of green.

Gently gliding down the river on a punt taking in the views of the beautiful city of Cambridge is definitely not my idea of work.

But I'm glad it's my boss's!