Birthday outing
Monday, 4 August 2008 20:56![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strange_complexOn Saturday, I reached the grand old age of thirty-two, and went on an outing to Castle Howard to celebrate. I had ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
redkitty23 and her partner, Vincent, as house-guests for the weekend (en route to a Primatology conference in Edinburgh), so we were able to pile into Anna's cute little retro-style Fiat 500, swoop big_daz up from Wortley, and head off out into the countryside.
At first, we were guided on our way by 'Ken', the Australian voice on Anna's Tom Tom, but he unfortunately let us down by taking us straight into an all-but-stationary traffic jam going past York. Luckily, however, we had an alternative Yorkshire navigation system available to us: Daz Daz, armed with Local Knowledge and a road atlas. And so it was that we found ourselves bowling through Georgian brick-built villages and along sunlit country lanes, listening to The Cure while our hair whipped around in an invigorating breeze, and only got to Castle Howard half an hour later than Ken had said we would.snapesbabe and matgb, alas, were not so lucky, and despite gallant efforts to join us were eventually forced to turn back before they had even arrived. :-(
And this was a great pity, not only because it deprived me of the opportunity to lust over their new purple Ka, but also because Castle Howard is ace! It really is a stately home par excellence, with expansive grounds, beautiful formal gardens, fountains, peacocks, endless opulent drawing rooms, rococo furniture, plutocratic portraits and so on. But I think what I liked best about it was the extensive collections of Classical sculpture (which seemed to go on and on in every hallway and corridor), and the answering neo-Classicism of the building itself and the works of art which adorned it. It began to feel as though you couldn't turn a corner without seeing something Classical or Classically-inspired: which is quite frankly exactly how I think the world should be. ;-)
Anyway, a day like that is probably best told in pictures, rather than words, so here are some of my favourite photos from our outing:
... and if you liked those, you can see the full gallery here.
As we left in the late afternoon (Ken still relegated to the boot in favour of Daz Daz), Anna suggested that we should eat out in the evening. I'd planned to cook us a casserole, but who would cook on their birthday when friends were offering to take them out instead, eh? So we ended up at Jino's, where we guzzled delicious Thai food, and the waiters put a candle in my ice-cream when Anna told them it was my birthday, and then returned home to mine for frighteningly potent cocktails.
Presents were mainly books from my family, but Anna got me a beautiful orchid, while Daz (who clearly knows me far too well) got me an enamel K-9 pendant like the ones shown below (just one, though!), and my parents got me a Tiffany floor lamp to go in my dining-room:
So, all told, an excellent day, and some nice mementos of it to take away with me. So far, I'm enjoying being 32. It feels like a nice solid, self-confident age to be - properly into my 30s, in contrast to 31, which felt a bit apologetic about it. It's also a multiple of eight, which I've always thought of as being 'my' number - not necessarily my lucky number, but just the number that signifies me. As being born on the 2nd of the 8th and growing up in a house with the number 82 will tend to make you think...
Here's to my thirty-secondthird year on this planet, then. I intend to make the most of it.
redkitty23 and her partner, Vincent, as house-guests for the weekend (en route to a Primatology conference in Edinburgh), so we were able to pile into Anna's cute little retro-style Fiat 500, swoop big_daz up from Wortley, and head off out into the countryside.At first, we were guided on our way by 'Ken', the Australian voice on Anna's Tom Tom, but he unfortunately let us down by taking us straight into an all-but-stationary traffic jam going past York. Luckily, however, we had an alternative Yorkshire navigation system available to us: Daz Daz, armed with Local Knowledge and a road atlas. And so it was that we found ourselves bowling through Georgian brick-built villages and along sunlit country lanes, listening to The Cure while our hair whipped around in an invigorating breeze, and only got to Castle Howard half an hour later than Ken had said we would.
snapesbabe and matgb, alas, were not so lucky, and despite gallant efforts to join us were eventually forced to turn back before they had even arrived. :-(And this was a great pity, not only because it deprived me of the opportunity to lust over their new purple Ka, but also because Castle Howard is ace! It really is a stately home par excellence, with expansive grounds, beautiful formal gardens, fountains, peacocks, endless opulent drawing rooms, rococo furniture, plutocratic portraits and so on. But I think what I liked best about it was the extensive collections of Classical sculpture (which seemed to go on and on in every hallway and corridor), and the answering neo-Classicism of the building itself and the works of art which adorned it. It began to feel as though you couldn't turn a corner without seeing something Classical or Classically-inspired: which is quite frankly exactly how I think the world should be. ;-)
Anyway, a day like that is probably best told in pictures, rather than words, so here are some of my favourite photos from our outing:
... and if you liked those, you can see the full gallery here.
As we left in the late afternoon (Ken still relegated to the boot in favour of Daz Daz), Anna suggested that we should eat out in the evening. I'd planned to cook us a casserole, but who would cook on their birthday when friends were offering to take them out instead, eh? So we ended up at Jino's, where we guzzled delicious Thai food, and the waiters put a candle in my ice-cream when Anna told them it was my birthday, and then returned home to mine for frighteningly potent cocktails.
Presents were mainly books from my family, but Anna got me a beautiful orchid, while Daz (who clearly knows me far too well) got me an enamel K-9 pendant like the ones shown below (just one, though!), and my parents got me a Tiffany floor lamp to go in my dining-room:
So, all told, an excellent day, and some nice mementos of it to take away with me. So far, I'm enjoying being 32. It feels like a nice solid, self-confident age to be - properly into my 30s, in contrast to 31, which felt a bit apologetic about it. It's also a multiple of eight, which I've always thought of as being 'my' number - not necessarily my lucky number, but just the number that signifies me. As being born on the 2nd of the 8th and growing up in a house with the number 82 will tend to make you think...
Here's to my thirty-
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no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 20:56 (UTC)Lovely pictures of your birthday treat.
I'm glad it was good and your lamp is really nice
xxx
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:06 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:26 (UTC)I have mended it very neatly :-)
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:45 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 20:58 (UTC)Belated happy birthdays, too! :)
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:07 (UTC)And thank you! :-)
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:05 (UTC)See you tomorrow :-)
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:09 (UTC)And you too - although would you be open to trying Sukhothai (the new Thai place where the old Dynasty restaurant used to be) instead of Jino's now? We did try to get into Sukhothai on Saturday, since I knew I'd be going to Jino's on Tuesday, but they were booked out. No worries if not, as Jino's is great - but I'd prefer to ring the changes if poss.
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:15 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:21 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:20 (UTC)I'm really glad that you had such a good day.
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:22 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 21:58 (UTC)33rd year on this planet, surely? ;-)
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Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 22:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 22:16 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 22:57 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 23:01 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 22:59 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 23:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 4 August 2008 23:33 (UTC)Castle Howard looks fabulous!
We accidently ended up there on our way to Whitby in April after using Janet (English SatNav Woman) to help us avoid the aforementioned Stationary Traffic Jam which would appear to be a permenant feature! We had to tell her each of the villages as we went cos she kept wanting to go back to the traffic jam!, so needed my map as well! I was impressed with the gates and long straight roads through the grounds but we didn't have time to stop unfortunately! :o(
oooh & K-9! *Squeeee*! :o)
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Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008 09:10 (UTC)So did Ken! Every time we got to a roundabout, he kept telling us to go right round it and back on ourselves. I kept expecting him to say "Strewth, you buggers! A fella'd start to think you had it in for him!"
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Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008 06:34 (UTC)Traffic Jams. Yeuch. Don't want to come home to that!
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Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008 07:51 (UTC)First time in years that i have forgotten - many apologies.
Glad you had a great time though.
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Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008 07:52 (UTC)Not been to Jinos for a while. Must fix that :)
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Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008 08:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2008 09:12 (UTC)Belated Happy Birthday
Date: Wednesday, 6 August 2008 18:43 (UTC)Re: Belated Happy Birthday
Date: Wednesday, 6 August 2008 18:59 (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 7 August 2008 12:55 (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 7 August 2008 13:24 (UTC)