Early birthday celebrations

We've just returned from lunch at the Chinese restaurant. Very successful. It was self service and my two granddaughters, seven and four respectively (both with birthdays in December) were able to go backwards and forwards to the food table choosing a bit of this and a bit of that. As they are both active and like being up and down all the time anyway, this was right up their street. There was a huge party in the restaurant when we arrived and we were ushered upstairs. This was also good, because, apart from the serving table there were only another four or five tables up there, so very few people to annoy. This was Rob and Jayne's birthday treat for me, but before we left home I opened my cards, including the ones which the girls had made specially; I opened the present which Ella had given me - a brooch, which I wore on my trouser suit and also the family present - some chocs and a copy of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - which I had already decided to read.

The family has gone home now, and OH and I are unwinding in our respective ways - me in front of the screen and he in front of the other screen, on which I understand, some rugby will soon take place.

Yesterday was also very successful. The family arrived at lunch time and in the afternoon, we collected up dead wood and branches to add to the huge bonfire already built. Naturally, the girls loved wheeling the barrow and adding their contribution to the wood pile. Harriet, the girl next door, had made an impressive Guy and he was stuck on top.

At six, we reassembled and Harriet lit the fire, which, within minutes, was raging. Friends, parents and in-laws of the group of neighbours all turned up to stand around this furnace, which threw out tremendous heat, despite the cold. The teenagers from two houses and their friends made up the main bulk of the participants, and fireworks were contributed by two neighbours and friends; food from others. We moved to a garden for the fireworks and watched the show for at least half an hour. There was a bright moon, and it was cold and crisp as it has been for the past few days.

Then to another house where the barbecue was churning out burgers and sausages, and chicken legs were arriving straight from the oven. The neighbours all did a terrific job. My brownies apparently went down OK and there were enough for the teenagers' lunch today, after a sleepover in two houses.

I'd already fed the girls, as the fireworks was quite late enough for them. They wanted to be part of the continued jollity, and they each had a baked pototo before coming home to bed. I called it a day too. My toes were getting cold. But M (OH) stayed on to consume a few chicken legs; then arrived home and fell asleep for the next two hours - in fact till bedtime.

Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I'll be at a Goldenford meeting in the evening. That's fine. It's quite a social event. I've got things happening almost every night in the coming week. I shall be exhausted at the end of it.

Later: as usual, the time was incorrect and this addition is taking place at 11.15 p.m. In addition, I've looked at my so called profile to be told my birth sign is Gemini. What rubbish. I'm a Scorpio, of course, known for my sting in the tail.