Birthday

No, not mine. M celebrated another click on the age clock with good grace, and I suspect appreciated the card, but the day was full. As I’ve already mentioned she’s keen on sailing so at 9am we were off to the club – her for a lesson and me to see what I could do with busted ribs. Even raising my elbow above the shoulder is painful at the moment, so hauling sheets is out of the question.

As it turned out she got not one but two lessons in, and I filled in the time doing a shore class for the newbies. This involved explaining how a boat worked, the points of sailing and some tips and tricks for getting on in the club. One bonus was that all the students were keen and eager to learn, and I raised some smiles explaining how things worked. After the lesson I dealt with some individual questions, gave a little (hopefully good) advice and then found the day leader and offered to do dogsbody work.

As it turns out the commodore (or Her Grand Fluffiness as she prefers to be called) needed a hand marking up and sorting some new foul weather gear so we spent a happy couple of hours deciding what to keep and what to chuck. A huge shout out to West Marine (the go-to place for Bay sailing supplies) for giving us a massive discount on foul weather gear. It’s thanks to policies like that which keep the sailing club going, and it’s why I buy most of my sailing gear from there.

M came back from her second sailing lesson with a huge grin on her face and a walk that suggested some serious hiking out and high speed sailing. The wind had picked up and she and her instructor had been scudding over the waves. It’s a joy to see someone when they’ve had the sailing rush and it’s really kicked in.

After the lessons we headed home for brunch (scrambled eggs and smoked salmon) and cava mimosas - although as designated driver I stopped after one. Then we headed into the city for dinner with a good friend and then home for an earlyish night in, we are getting on after all :)

Birthday lows and highs

In the lists of things to do on your birthday dragging your carcass out of bed at 6:30am isn’t going to rank particularly highly. But that was the prospect today, since I had to do a video interview with the British head of a very big chip manufacturer; my last such one in the UK.

I’ve known the subject, P, for over a decade. I’ve got fond memories of his days as a flack in the late 1990s. When a rival firm beat his company to the first one GHz consumer processor during the chip speed wars of that decade I was expecting him to dodge the issue, but instead he looked me square in the eye and said “Well you know, speed isn’t everything,” without cracking up. I thought to myself that this man would go far.

He has, but not as far as central London. Despite getting into the office at 8:45am he failed to show, making me a tad grumpy. His PR was very good about it, and I consoled myself with a fry up at Balans, before leaving to pick up the van.

After a busy day at the tip I clocked off early and went for a birthday nosh up at one of my favourite restaurants Bar Shu with my sister and S. It was a memorable night and we fed well on fantastic Szechwan.

After saying goodbye I wandered down to Charing Cross. It was a lovely night, warm without being cloying and the buildings were lit up beautifully. I stopped off for a whisky on the way home and reflected on how much I’m going to miss this wonderful city. Then off to bed, the tip awaits again tomorrow.

Getting old

After an ‘interesting’ day at work I spent the evening scouting out locations for my 40^th birthday. It’s over a year away but as I’m going to be away it’s time for some forward planning.

My 30^th started badly, mainly because I woke up and became instantly depressed at the thought that I was heading to geezerdom far too fast. Luckily I had a great party at Andrew Edmunds with my chums and then the evening sank into drunken debauchery that was highly gratifying.

And then in the following year I discovered that it wasn’t the end of the world. In your 30s you’re old enough to know what you want and get taken seriously but young enough to have fun. The 40s are slightly more serious but not especially so these days. In my dad’s time life was tougher – he’d had two kids, one divorce and was working his way towards the next one. This is not something to which I aspire.

It has been suggested by some friends that I’ll stay over in San Fran for longer but I want to be back to see in the big four zero with my friends and family. It’s mum’s 70^th in the same month so I think we’ll have a big thing together as well. All in all, especially with the pitiful holiday allowance in the US, I’ll have to be back for good.

Anyway, life goes on, and so far it keeps on getting better. After all, could get hit by a bus tomorrow and there’s lots more life to cram in.