24-26 July: 96th Birthday

No not me! Those who may have been reading this blog from its inception may recall that this is the time of year  which is my Father's birthday. So Saturday 24th July I found myself back at Vienna Airport for the early morning British Airways flight to London-Heathrow, en-route to Sussex to join my sisters and some friends to celebrate my Father's 96th birthday..

It was a lovely day and despite a delay due to London Air Traffic Control being short stafffed "due to sickness" we arrived only a little bit late. The captain was not slow to let us know how peeved they were in the cockpit over the delay; and then at the end of the flight there was an apology for the "firm" landing; apparently the plane ( a new airbus 320 200) had been in fully automatic landing mode  and " it could have done it better" was the comment  from the First Officer who was the pilot flying!

The Hertz car was waiting and although the traffic on the M25 and the M3 and the A3 was bad due to the crowds heading off to see the Farnborough airshow I was soon arriving  at Angmering to stay with my friends Tim and Wendy at their beachside property, my base for the weekend.

On Sunday we drove over to the party venue in the Toyata Land Cruiser that Tim and Wendy use for their great journeys  across continents (see for example  http://www.singaporetomacau.blogspot.com/   and  http://www.californiatoalaska.blogspot.com/ http://drivecanada.blogspot.com/   are the three latest)

The weather was perfect as it always seems to be with Dadwag's birthday and the venue was the house where Dadwag lives with my sister Alison and her husband Tim.  Lunch was taken out on their back deck overlooking the Sussex countryside and the Wild Brooks . The company was the usual band of suspects, the three kids (me and my two sisters - they with husbands) my friend Clare  (who always  makes the super birthday cake) and  a small group of our very oldest friends - Tim and Wendy, Colin and Angela and Diana  and then my sister Alison's son Tom with partner Juliette and Rueben the partner of her daughter Beth who was sadly away working on a location in Crete; after the birthday the big news being that my nephew Tom's partner  Juliette is  expecting a baby.   After lunch Dadwag made a short speech and we all enjoyed the afternoon chatting until it was time for the various travellers to start back to their destinations.

Dadwag opening presents

Tom and Juliette

Dadwag on the phone to Michael ( my son) in Australia with some of the gang  around the tables

My sister Susan making sure Beth can join in from Crete

..........................the end of the cake that Clare made.

Lunch was great , the company superb  - another wonderful birthday party.

The evening was spent alone in Tim and Wendy's house as they headed off to  London and a prior appointment.Next day I was soon shopping at M&S for a few essentials to take back to Vienna and then a session with Dadwag doing the Daily Telegraph crosswords  (The Times was finished already!) and we had lunch;  then he had a nap and I drove back to Heathrow for the evening BA flight back to Vienna and work.
Next trip Canada!