Well that week went in a flash and I can safely say I have celebrated my birthday in style!
I was truly spoilt and surprised, in more ways than one for both good and bad reasons. But first the good! The night before my birthday I had planned to go to The White Horse Pub Quiz (8.30pm, every Wednesday, £1 per person, best to book incase some surprise party is going on) with some friends. Unbeknown to me my daughters had colluded with one of my friends and hatched a glorious plan to surprise me. Oh I was surprised alright!
Having boasted I had not cried since the first of February (at a funeral) I cried tears of surprise when my girls jumped up and said SURPRISE followed by the rest of the gang who had been lying on the floor waiting for me to arrive, and by waiting I mean waiting as I dawdled, got petrol and chatted to everyone in the pub. Anyway, the rest of the gang creaked and hobbled their way up to standing position and I hugged and cried at this fabulous bunch of friends who've been with me through thick and thin, marvelling at how my girls kept a secret and how my friends had come up with splendid excuses of apology.
Well ha, now I won't know whether they are actually poorly, in need of a lift, locked in the loo or have lost their keys but they're my lovely friends and they all came out on a Wednesday night for me and that made me happy. And when I'm happy then everyone's happy! My birthday itself went according to plan (phew!) with coffee, cake, visitors, presents and daffs galore. As I got into bed I breathed a sigh of relief that the people in my life are brilliant and (even though they all led me a merry dance) I am well and truly blessed with such genuine friends. Sadly my good mood was dented momentarily by what I will call Road Rage, not the song by Catatonia but I was on the receiving end of road rage from an old man. I would normally refer to a man of advancing years as a gentleman but this road rager was no gent. So, there I was driving along with no obstruction on my side of the road and plenty of space to pull into should another car be on the road when a driver, with parked cars on his side, didn't stop and give way, so I glared and when obvious he wasn't going to reverse I did. As he drove past he wound his window down and I said "morning" and he said "you hurtled round the corner I expect you do that all the time ......... fatty".
Yes, you may gasp and think how rude. I don't know what his lady passenger thought at that but if I was with someone who said that I would cringe. Now he didn't know I had been on steroids which thankfully made me well again, but I know he's rude and possibly normally is and probably always will be. The thing that bothers me is that the man was angry, rude and aggressive before 9am, he was behind the wheel of a large car, he was in the wrong and took it out on me and what's more his insult was childish and puerile. I do hope that he didn't carry on with his pompous arrogance throughout the day and insult anyone else but I thoroughly enjoyed a big fat slice of cake knowing that those who know me love me, warts and all. And I love them back.
You can also read this and other news in The Wokingham Paper, out every Thursday.
