42 - The Meaning of Life

I'm still waiting on Sharon writing something about the skiing day at Chamrousse. Maybe sometime soon...

I passed another birthday last Thursday, breaking the prime number sequence of ages in the family as I move serenely into my early forties. The afternoon was spent in the company of my old Uni pal Scott, playing golf at Murrayfield GC. He won 4&2 but I played reasonably well for my first outing of the year, shooting around 83 (a few generous gimmes in there) and striking the ball quite well. Scott and his new wife-to-be Zoe are expecting their first child in September: changed days indeed from nights of Scrabble, Minstrels and nonsense.

Snow after my birthday is a rare event but the boys were out playing briefly on Saturday morning as the garden was blanketed in white. Cold and a few ill-advised snowballs drove them back inside again. The Lasts came over on Sunday afternoon with the boys immediately getting into playing with Morven despite it being months since we last saw them. Rowan was in full charm mode, entertaining us all with some of his new words, dancing and smiling his dimples off. He repeated the act yesterday as the Warners came to stay overnight, having been visiting the Harrises up in Ceres. We met both parties for dinner in Falkland on Sunday night, at Warbecks, which had an excellent approach to gluten-free food.

Sean and Finn are back at school and pre-school. Sean got his Bronze Merit certificate for good behaviour (over 50 merit points) and was very pleased. Unusually for him he couldn't get to sleep last night so he may be tired today. Finn has been playing up too, slyly pushing Rowan over when he thinks no-one's looking. Again, tiredness seems to be the key. Rowan has been cutting about four teeth, molars and eye teeth, so he hasn't been at his best during the night but his increasing mobility (climbing to the top of the helter-skelter slide at Morningside Park and throwing himself down it) and chat continue to brighten the day.