It was the weekend of my fiftieth birthday. It started on Friday evening with a great evening, a Chinese meal with our friends from Lee On Solent at the restaurant in Stubbington. A fun evening and the celebrations just carried on. On Saturday evening we travelled to Romsey where Annie cooked dinner for us & Matt came too. It was a lovely evening.
Sunday began with a rather rushed breakfast in bed and the opening of presents before we rushed to collect Maggie & Cameron and travelled with them and Matt up to London. We walked along the South Bank, where outside we met Linda my friend from Bedford. I had found on the Internet that the 'Frost Festival' would be taking place and lots of stalls and street entertainment was set up between The Globe and The Tate Modern'. The Globe was open with free entry and after looking at their exhibition we were entertained in the theatre, it was fabulous and we joined in the heckling! After the little glimpse, a visit to a whole performance is a definite must.
We met up with Ian and Hazel (Maggie's daughter who had come along in place of Matt's ex).
The highlight and very extravagant part of the day was afternoon tea at Claridges. The table was booked for 3.30 and before we took our place in the restaurant, we ladies went to the loo or should I say lavatory. We deposited our coats with the female attendant, used the loo and after we washed our hands, we were all handed an individual fluffy hand towel!
Claridges looked resplendent in all its Christmas glories, My humble little tree,looks more like a twig in comparison. The hotel was beautifully decorated in art deco style. In the restaurant where tea was served, music was played by a cellist and pianist. We were waited on by two very smart waiters, who service was flawless. Champagne was served with the delicious delicate sandwiches, there were plenty of them and the platters were filled as often as we needed. Unknown to me, Steve had informed the hotel that we were celebrating my birthday, so the musicians struck up 'Happy birthday' as the waiter arrived by my side with a perfect piece of birthday cake with one candle and 'Happy Birthday' piped in chocolate on the plate. perfect scones, pastries and cakes were served. We took a leisurely two hours over tea and left the Hotel feeling very full and satisfied with the wonderful experience, and wondering how well to do Edwardian 's managed to eat dinner on top of tea!
The celebration weren't over and we walked from Regent Street to Somerset House where we were to ice skate at the open air rink. On the way, we stopped and sang Carols around the tree at Trafalgar square.
The skating was fun and then it was time to take our leave, Ian to Sheffield, Linda to Bedford and Hazel to Eastbourne. The rest of us made our weary way to Waterloo to catch the train home.
What a wonderful day it was.