Birthday Party Weekend!

I have a number of friends here in town who all celebrate birthdays in late February/early March. Angie, the social director of our group, decided that we should all celebrate en masse with dinner at le Petit Nantaise, a wonderful little bistro on The Bridge road in East Molesey just near the palace.

I have been here for dinner a few times in the time I have spent here and I highly recommend it! It is a fabulous place. The atmosphere is comfortable; the staff attentive to your needs; the food is exquisite! I have never been disappointed here.

We met-up yesterday at The Albion, one of the local pubs on the bridge road. We were supposed to meet at seven, but due to some kind of a sporting thing, rugby, football (soccer) or something like that was on the tele so some of the celebrants were a bit late showing up. It was okay, they had told me that they may be late. I knew the would when I came into the pub.

None among the throngs of people screaming at the televisions in the pub were my friends. So I took a beer and a position at a table in the walk out in front of the pub. It was fun watching East Molesey (and the obvious tourists) go walking through the village as the evening stretched.

There was one little girl who wanted nothing to do with the noise and palaver inside the pub. She wanted to run around and play outside. Her mom kept coming out and calling to her "Lola, come back here! Quit Running Around!" Lola finally found a friend of her mom's who would play with her and wore her out by having her run up the street and then back to him. On arrival, he'd pick her up and toss her above his head; catching her and setting her down again gentle as you please. I'm not sure who was most tired when that was done.

There was one family of tourists who kept walking by the pub as I sat there. I knew they were tourists by the book they kept referencing as they walked along. It was printed in some foreign language; Russian, I thin - the letters looked Cyrillic. I have, really, no reason to believe they were lost. The book may have been a guide to the architecturally interesting highlights of East Molesey; for all I know they may have been discussing the downspouts.

My friends showed-up around seven thirty and then we had a beer before heading over to the restaurant. Where once again, we had a sparkling conversation, and a wonderful meal! The wine flowed; the owner and chef JP came over to chat with us a couple times and even bought us a round of coffees and aperitifs after we had our desserts. The accordion player came by and played a number of songs that we all sang along with. (Well, almost all of us sang along. Once again, I feel the lack of common background with my friends here in the UK. There were a number of songs that they all knew - old English standards - that I had never even heard of before!)

After dinner, we headed back to The Albion for a night cap and were still there when the second bell rang. It was well after midnight this morning when I returned to the Villa. After a nice lie-in this morning (I stayed abed until nearly eight) I went out for a nice bike ride in-between two rain showers. I took pictures of these daffodils in the margin or a roadway in nearby Kingston-upon-Thames on my way back. I had a leisurely morning, brushed Saga (God! Can she shed or what?) and then got ready to meet-up with my mates back at The Albion for the continuation of our celebrations. I'm off to the pub now. More tomorrow.

I hope that wherever you are today, you have something to celebrate and a wonderful to do so!

Don Bergquist - 25 February 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK