It's a new day, a new dawn....

I have that Virgin ad in my brain, but I think I should apologise anyway, even though I am not quite sure to what I am apologising*.

We have a fantastic weekend.  It was E's 50th birthday, and A had put on a fantastic evening of entertainment.  It was hosted at their next door neighbour's house, who are also their best friends, an house that has recently undergone a fairly radical remodelling and the resultant open plan kitchen, dining and sitting area is a fantastic space for a party of twenty people.  The first part of the evening was spent with a magician going round doing close up magic, which was really quite something.  Even though there were bits of bits that I sort of nearly thought I knew how it was done, overall he was truly amazing, and I have the folded card with my signature on it as a souvenir.
The second part of the evening was the eating, accompanied by some wine tasting.  We tested 3 whites and 3 reds, plus a dessert wine, and the compère for this section was bonkers and great fun.  All the wine was organic, sourced from small vineyards from France to Argentina, via South Africa and Italy.  Now, here's a fact that I can confirm, and that I did not know previously.  Organic wine does not give you a hangover.  I drank enough to feel rough all day, however the only ill-effects was a bit of tiredness, which is almost normal for me, and a very faint head feeling - not a headache as such, more a sense that a headache had passed through and found things not to its liking.
Anyhow, while the price tag is slightly higher, I think that may be a price worth paying, and we may be sampling a few more organic wines in the future.

Sunday was passing as Sundays do, until mid afternoon when two Southern Electric vans turned up outside our house, and then three men and a mini digger proceeded to dig up the pavement outside our house.  Next door had electricity feed problems, and as part of the digging, we were without electricity for several hours.  The Maggots were beside themselves, putting out candles and collecting wood for the fire, and we spent a very pleasant, warm but slightly dark few hours playing Monopoly.  Suddenly you realise all the things that do run on electricity, including the heating and hot water boiler, and perhaps appreciate them all the more when they are finally returned to one.

Have a great week, and speak soon.

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* This is, as any married man will tell you, one of the 397 key rules to a happy marriage.