Up and Down

I’ve had a real roller-coaster of a weekend. Or maybe you’d call it a curate’s egg of a weekend. There were definitely some good parts. I spent a really sweet evening in Birmingham on Friday, having dinner with some old friends. Not as riotous as previous evenings maybe (I caught the late train back to Nottingham), but very enjoyable nonetheless.

On Saturday I had lunch with my both of my daughters and their mother – it’s a rare occasion when all the girls are in Nottingham at the same time – and that was a very jolly occasion with champagne and sparkling Shiraz (not bad, but in my view a waste of a good Shiraz really). Then on Saturday evening I had dinner with some business partners which was extremely pleasant and fairly productive too - it's good to get back on track with pushing the business forward and I'm lucky that my business partners are also nice friends. On Sunday it was back to my old home for lunch with the girls before taking Sophie out to the airport for her return to Paris. Sad to see her go yes, but it's gratifying that she is returning to her exciting job there. Imogen then returned to London - just as sad to see her go - where she has a demanding job in the City to keep her busy. Old Pa is left behind feeling bewildered.

However, all of the weekend's many pleasures were irritatingly laced with the thread of an intermittent presence by the Stray Cat who (at the same time) both pleases me yet causes me grief. I have to get rid of him somehow, but I don’t think these creatures take any notice of rational human beings do they? No matter how often I shoo him away, he just keeps turning up when he's least expected and mews pitifully, expecting attention. Maybe I should move house?

Oh, and now I'm ill as well. I'm sure it's Lassa Fever or something equally fatal. This might be the last blog I ever write...... Goodbye, cruel world.