Birthday, birthday, birthday

Don’t ask me how old I am, I don’t know. Its not a form of denial, honestly I just can’t remember and my mental arithmetic is just not good enough to work it out. I think I’m somewhere in my mid-40s. Close enough.

Quite a few people seemed genuinely surprised I was at work on my birthday – I thought taking my birthday off was just a thing I used to do when the job wasn’t so hectic (don’t ask me how many years ago that was, I can’t work it out … ten, fifteen years?). The day at work, the past fortnight at work, has been shitty (nice choice of phrasing, eloquent), full of small people who think they are in big jobs putting effort into exceptionally insignificant things and stopping the more genuine people doing the right things.

It was good to get home where @drwstr was waiting to take me out for dinner. We walked down to Carluccio’s in Gunwharf; the day had cleared up from drizzle to blue skies and the evening was warm enough to be in shirt-sleeves. Walking into Gunwharf on a summer evening has the sensation of crossing a border into a holiday. The hum of people drinking on the terraces of the bars and cafes, lights on water and the air a mix of restaurants and the sea.

Carluccio’s was busy but the layout of the place, with its L-shape and terrace, gives you the sociable sensation of dining out without being overlooked or, often worse, needing to shout above the hubbub. The food was good, very good, and we chose a wine purely because it was referred to as ‘bold’ (and it was). I had cod on a bed of peas and prosciuttio and @drwstr had chicken. Both were prepared perfectly and melted on the tongue.

We wandered back through Southsea. I have always liked walking around a city at night. Southsea is a sociable maze of streets, a constant flow of people in and out of the bars and restaurants, all types, all shapes. We passed a brightly lit ice cream parlour on Elm Grove, full of the younger crowd siting in booths eating, their animated conversations spilling out across the street to us.

Eventually I got to bed and sometime after midnight I fell asleep. Another birthday. Thank you @drwstr for making it about the important things in life.