Today Dad turned Really Old. Not specifically a number, but considering he was old last year, that makes him older this year. And let’s face it, I’ve been calling him an old man since I was about 3.
Anyway, it was his birthday again today, so we had a day of doing Daddy things. After I dropped K at work, I headed over to the ‘rents and we all shipped off to the Bedfordshire Golf Club to play nine holes on the par 3. I used to be quite keen on golf, although I never had the strength or power in my arms to hit the ball very far.
Playing today reminded me that it wasn’t just the power in my arms that affected my game; it was also the fact that I’m rubbish at golf, which was a bit of a hindrance. Still, I persevered and managed to not get myself in a completely foul mood (very easy for me with something as frustrating as golf – I don’t have the world’s slowest temper), which I was pretty proud of.
I was not proud, however, of my score, which was just the wrong side of diabolical. In fact, I went round a 9-hole course with a Par of 28 in the same number of strokes as the course record on the 18-hole full-size course. Now that’s rubbish. I did, however, get more points on my scoring card than anybody else. Sadly I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing.
After golf I toddled home to collect K from work and we welcomed the little niece and newphew over with their mum for a bit of fun and frolics. I managed to get myself jumped on on the bed and also squished beneath both of them in our armchair.
Once they’d gone and we’d recovered showered and dressed for dinner, Bro picked us up (he had borrowed my car for the day) and we headed over to the ‘rents to shower Dad with his present. Birthdays seem to get much less bountiful when you get older, but Dad had his new driver so he was happy enough. (That’s a golf club, by the way, we haven’t employed someone to fery him around).
Talking of ferrying peope around, I then drove us all over to The Birch in Woburn, where we once again had one of the nicest meals I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant.
(For the foodies out there, I had Pumpkin and Sage ravioli to start, followed by Saddle of Lamb Wllington, both of which were absolutely exceptional. For desert I had Pannecotta, which was a first for me, as had everything been, and it was very nicely presented and seemed pretty perfect, although not entirely to my taste)
I genuinely can’t recommend it enough – it’ a beautiful restaurant with great fresh, seasonal food and the owner/proprietor is a fantastically friendly, chatty guy. All the staff are exceptional and they made Dad’s birthday meal really special without resorting to silly hats and group-singing.
We eventually dropped the drunkards home around 11.30, which gave us just enough time to get home and hit the hay before midnight. Great day.