17. Mick's Birthday & Devil's Bay (Mick)

One great thing about an August birthday (as reader HotJonesy1 of Cheshire pointed out) is you get to spend it in nice places. In practice that can mean airports and motorways, but mostly she’s right. Clare’s preference for last-minute shopping means the exciting unpredictability of “made locally” presents, but this year was good, books, T-shirts, music and the obligatory Christmas Tree decoration (a strange tradition).

We had a very mellow day, chilling out at home in the morning before heading off for the afternoon to Devil’s Bay. The snorkeling was really disappointing as the distant storms seem to have churned everything up and visibility was about nil. It made for a great sea though, not so much crashing waves as all the water in the bay moving in and out like jelly.


Mike and Ciaran climbed rocks high enough to make me worry, never mind Granddad, and Clare, Liam and I kept getting in and out of the water to keep cool as it was blisteringly hot (too hot to walk on the sand). We had a lovely lunch at the “Top of the Baths”, recommended by our gardener, Ralph, then back home to say hi to my Mum and Dad.

We did a Skype video call to them from the poolside which was a hoot, though it was a miracle that Ciaran’s enthusiasm didn’t drown the laptop. We then all had a final swim in the pool (home tomorrow), and got round to discussing Mike's upcoming GCSE's results - due next Thursday. Liam's sole contribution was at the end, pitching in with "Hey Mike, bet you'll able to spell 'FUDGE' with your results", which had us in fits.

To end the day we went back to the Mine Shaft Café, this time getting their early enough to see the beautiful sunset. Dinner was good but conversation was drowned out by the singer who had set up right next to us. He was actually pretty good, both as a singer and a guitarist, and entertained us with a mix of traditional-style songs that he’d written and folk songs from the 60’s. He was from St Lucia and the general theme was “life was so good then, now its pants”. My philosophy on life is a bit different to that, but I respected his opinion and enjoyed the music. When he reached his Bob Dylan catalogue though enough was enough, your reporter made his excuses and left, cats wailing in harmony on all sides.

It was a great birthday, I must have more of them.