Celebrating in style

We have had a day of backwards and forwards-ing, but with a cherry on the top as we were celebrating Thomas’s First birthday today. Here’s the birthday boy himself, under an archway of balloons…..

But first up, we were travelling over to Heartlands Hospital early on this morning for John’s three-weekly immunoglobulin infusion. There is a shortage of said item in the UK however, and the sessions have now been moved to monthly. Fingers crossed that there is no adverse effect from that. No-one has said the shortage is related to Brexit yet – we are still waiting for the reason to be disclosed.

I dropped John off and came home with a long list of jobs to do, one of which was to apply the Duck Egg Blue wall paint. The only thing is, now that I’ve got some of it on….. I don’t really like it. I hadn’t thought carefully enough about how it would go with the colour of the tiles, which are a clotted cream and apricot colour. John agrees – he has turned his nose up, too. Ah, well back to the drawing board. Off to Homebase/B&Q as soon as I can get there….

Once John had finished at the hospital, I collected him. We nipped into the pharmacy in the village to see if we could sort out various medications that hadn’t arrived for John, and then grabbed ourselves a non-paleo Cornish Pasty from La Delicia deli. Such a naughty treat – which we thoroughly enjoyed. Reminded us of our holidays by the seaside.

At home, we were confronted with deliveries. We had ordered a box for the garden to keep the cushions in for the outside furniture. It turns out to be huge. I had ordered a parasol stand, too – which turned out to be very heavy. And then there was a another heavy bag on the doorstep – of dog food, this time. The delivery man hadn’t even tried to heave it into the porch. This last delivery is a throwback to me having looked after Chester a few weeks ago when the food order was diverted to my house. Ah…. must change the address.

Our plan was to go over to the Sutton Sleaths to see Thomas on his big day, sometime this afternoon. The family had gone to Drayton Manor for the day with Danielle’s parents, Bernie and Marie, who are over from Jersey for ten days. We were to join them all once they were home.

Michael phoned to say they were delayed – thoroughly enjoying their time out in Thomas Land. No worries, we said. It suited us to go a bit later. John could have more shut-eye, having come home from the procedure this morning feeling very washed out and tired. And I could get on with the painting.

Once it was time to go, I loaded the car with all the essentials – the dog food, the presents and the cake, which I herewith present to you:

Not only was the cake designed to be visually musical, but it also played music as well. A lovely, long, drawn-out piece that you may recognise, called ‘Happy Birthday to You’. We all enjoyed it anyway, but Thomas was a bit gob-smacked by all the attention, I think. He did, however, join in the music side of things, raising his arm to the beat. What a cutie.

It was nice to see Bernie and Marie, who looked very well and very bronzed from the Jersey weather. We’re not jealous at all.

We had a lovely time at Thomas’s party. Even William said what a great time we were all having. He did amuse me though. The sight of the parcels was very exciting for a little boy aged 3, and he announced very solemnly, that, as he was a ‘big boy’ and Thomas’s brother, he could open the gifts for him. He did a good job of it too.

He was especially thrilled with the musical rocking horse that Bernie and Marie had bought. So enamoured, was he, of the tune and sounds that could be played at will by pressing the horse’s ear, that he repeatedly pressed the button. We adults could not agree that the tunes and sounds and volume were to our taste. Our instinct was to say, ‘Turn the pesky thing off!’ but instead, it was a reasoned, ‘William, I think that’s enough for now, please switch it off and we can play it again a bit later.’

We are now tired but happy to have spent time among the family.

COVID is still of interest, with 16,703 people testing positive for the virus today; 21 people having died with it in the community in the last 24 hours; and 204 people admitted to hospitals.

8 people died with the virus in hospitals on 21 & 22 June; and the NHS has delivered 207,647 first doses of the vaccine and 167,988 second doses to people up to 4 p.m. today. 83% of the population has now been given the first dose and just over 60% have had their second.

That’s got to give us hope, hasn’t it? Take care everyone. God bless.