Celebration...

A lie in today till 9:00 and then a relaxing breakfast of coffee and croissants followed by my ankle exercises which seem to be doing the trick. There is far less pain overnight now and my mobility is much improved..

Then I tidied the computer room and broke down the studio, packing away the various keyboards and effects units as I won't need these again until I have written some songs, which I will do on the guitar and computer...

Lunch is a small bowl of Tomato & Basil soup followed by some lovely left over pasta from last night..

Then Anne leaves for the football at Tynecastle - the Edinburgh derby, Hearts v Hibs - she's very nervous...

I start to refill the Jukebox with some missing albums by my favourite artists starting with Laurie Anderson, saxophonist Iain Ballamy and The Beatles...

The results come in and, not only have Hearts thrashed Hibs 4-1 but, at last, Queen of the South have won a second game this season by beating Airdrie Utd 2-0 at home...

We're off out tonight for some drinks and a meal to celebrate Anne's birthday tomorrow. We're meeting Anne's best friend Lynn and her partner, Ross for drinks at a local hotel and then on to a Chinese Restaurant....

Because of my leg, we can't walk to the hotel (which is around 15 normal walking minutes away) but have to take a bus. Due to my increased confidence and mobility I was set to wear my normal boots for this outing but chickened out at the last minute, thinking I might be tempting fate and that my ankle could swell up during the evening - so I strapped on the moon-boot and off we went...

Here's Anne on the way up to the bus...



Lynn and Ross are already in the bar when we arrive. Ross still plays rugby and has sustained a bad injury to his eye today - leaving him with the look of a boxer...

In the bar, quite by chance, Anne and Lynn meet a girl who was in their class at school and whom they haven't seen for around 28 years. Everyone agrees no one's changed a bit - ha ha!

Turns out this girl (woman now I suppose) lives round the corner from us...

Due to my snail's pace gait, Ross and I take the bus along to the chinese while Anne and Lynn walk and we meet up again outside..

The meal is excellent, complimented by much alchoholic intake. Anne is pleased we didn't arrange for "Happy Birthday to You" to be played and a candle bedecked cake to be brought to our table - as was the case for three other diners tonight....

A shared taxi home to Meg the Black Cat then we watch Harry Hill before retiring....

Highlight of the Day : Going out with Lynn & Ross (and QoS winning at last!)