Today is my (belated) birthday party, so much of the day is spent clearing the decks in preparation for a houseful of guests this afternoon. My wife busies herself cooking party food and making fattening chocolate-based goodies, while I take the dog for a walk, clear away all of my camera gear and run the vacuum cleaner around downstairs. We dash out to Cromer to get some more bits and pieces that we didn’t get when we went to North Walsham yesterday, and then (before you know it) it’s 4pm and our guests are due.
We have my wife’s 2 sons and their fiancees, our 2 grandaughters and my wife’s ex-husband and his partner for a fairly raucous 4 hours of eating, drinking and making a fuss of the grandchildren. The dog is in her element, following our eldest granddaughter around, waiting for her to drop her food (which, inevitably, she does).
When the house is once again quiet, we clear away the party debris, load the dishwasher, vacuum up the cake crumbs and settle down in front of the telly for the evening. I crack open another beer and think about self-medicating with a little cannabis. I have quite a bit of tremor breaking through on both sides, have some muscular pain in my right arm, and am walking quite badly today. My balance seems okay, though, and my voice is much stronger than it was yesterday, so I’m thankful for small mercies!