For He's A Jolly Good Fellow

The weekend was mainly spent doing two things:

1) Recovering from El Boozio Cruisio

2) Celebrating birthdays galore

First of all, happy birthday to my sister Fiver and congratulations for managing a night out on the town that did not end with me having to scoop you off some pavement, bring you back to my house and nurse you back to life.

Secondly well done for sharing your birthday with the wild party celebrations for our Grandad, who turns 90 tomorrow!

Our Grandad is one of the most legendary people you could ever hope to meet. No word of a lie, he only retired about 5 years ago, he still has a razor sharp sense of humour and takes great delight in winding everyone up. Qualities, which I'm sure you can appreciate, make him a fun person to spend time with.

In the bungalow complex where he lives, mainly surrounded by single ladies, he's widely regarded as hot stuff. Many a time I've called round there to be told by his wife that he's down "helping Pearl change a light bulb" or similar, and when he goes away on his coach holidays all the women ask his wife if she minds them having a dance with him.

Recently I took my nephew down to visit him and as is common in these situations, spent most of the time on the edge of my seat as three year old Squiffy wandered round their living room fingering all the antiques. At one point he looked up, towards a pair of porcelain sitting dogs and beckoned at me to get them down for him to no doubt obliterate. As I shook my head and tutted "NO!", my Grandad piped up with "I should watch that dog, if I were you. He ate child not much smaller than you last week".

Having grown up on farms, my Grandad was my first point of advice when me and Mr G discovered mice in our house. Having told me what I needed to do, a few days later he rang me up to see if I'd "caught enough mice to make him a fur coat yet"!

Last time we went down to see him me and my sister Hazel had to take some kettle or something my Mum had bought him, and he said to tell her he would give her some money for it when he next saw her. Then he said "and when I see her, I'll ask her if you two passed on that twenty quid I gave you for her". I'll say it again, he's NINETY tomorrow!

Like many people of his age, he's seen his share of tragedies, but since the arrival of his three great grandchildren and overcoming a few minor health problems (such as pneumonia, and lung cancer probably brought on by smoking since the age of about three), you can tell he's become a bit of a softie. But it still makes him squirm when I say goodbye and tell him "I love you Grandad", even though I know he loves it really!

Just in case this ends up in the Herald (you never know these days!)...Happy 90th Birthday Reg. I hope you enjoy the giant pasty I've cooked for you, and no, it is not made with mouse meat you cheeky sod. 
I LOVE YOU!! X X X