A 90th birthday party

[sawyl]

My parents and my nephew left early to help set up for my grandmother's 90th, while my uncle and I kept out of the way until midday. When we eventually arrived, the bulk of the preparations were done: the parents had assembled the salmon and two giant coronation chickens, my aunt had baked ~50 potatoes and was just disappearing off to the shops to pick up more bread and salad. Not that we were in any danger of running short of food: once everyone had arrived, the tables were positively groaning with stuff.

After an excellent lunch — Jenny's trifle with home-made custard was a highlight — we assembled for singing and cake cutting and a group photo of the assembled clan. (Yes, I know it's not a very good picture of me, but it's better than the others — in them I've got my eyes closed; I'm pulling a face; I'm squinting against the sun like a cheap Clint Eastwood. What can I say? I'm not very photogenic!)


AWOL: Anna, Lola, John.
Back row: Jake, Nick, Eva, Ian (just), Josh, Julia, Nick, Nilly.
Second row: Andrew, Lin, Charlie, Jade, Beck, Sam, Jenny, Kate, Simon.
Front row: Alfie, Kai, Kara, Jake, Alicia.
Seated: Granny.

After we broke up at around 5pm, I rushed to Swiss Cottage to catch the bus to Paddington. In the end, I was almost thwarted: the bus was slower than anticipated, stopping at every stop, before terminating at Warwick Road leaving me just enough time to take the Bakerloo line one stop to Paddington — lazy, I know, but I was in a serious hurry. In the end, I arrived with five minutes to spare before my train left, found my seat, and made it back to Exeter by 9pm after what was, with hindsight, a nice day.

Let's hope we'll all be back in ten years time for Granny's centenary!