Birthdays

In the twenty years since I met the OH there have been a few significant birthdays within the family, including the births of seven new grandchildren. We don’t make a big fuss of celebrating our own. We used to like having a short spring break and an autumn break which often coincided with one of our birthdays. Mostly in the UK, but my most memorable overseas one was on Vancouver Island in 2010 when I got to have a lovely birthday meal in Tofino.

Tofino – Vancouver Island
Bear Cubs

The first one we celebrated together though was in the Algarve back in 2002 when we stayed in a hotel near to Carvoeiro. I was presented with a cup cake and a sparkler when we went for breakfast, but I ended up having a pizza on my own in the evening as the OH became very ill during the day and had taken to his bed!

My birthday in 2003 was by far the most special as it was the day we got married. As I was on a PGCE course and couldn’t take time off we had a brief honeymoon in the eclectic enchanting Italianate style village of Portmeirion in north Wales. Famous for the cult TV show ‘The Prisoner’ in the 1960s and also for Portmeirion pottery.

I don’t have digital photos from either of those years.

New Forest

Other trips include a weekend in Oxford, a week in the New Forest (where we attended the wedding of my youngest son), a fortnight in Penzance to house hunt, a week in Bridport and a few wonderful days in Montreux tagged on at the end of a trip to Geneva back in 2009.

Pub near Oxford with a telephone kiosk in the pond!

My birthday is at the beginning of October so during the period I was teaching that was term time so holidays were restricted to the school holidays. It was a relief when I stopped teaching and could travel whenever I liked.

Oxford college

The OH on the other hand has a birthday that is normally during the spring half-term so we were able to get away even though it is a more expensive time. His most glamorous getaways have been a day visiting the island of Ithaca during our week in Cephalonia in 2003, and another island trip in 2006, that time a day trip from Malta to Sicily.

His UK birthday holiday breaks have taken us to the Cotswolds,

Cotswolds – Lower Slaughter

North Devon, Aberaeron in west Wales, Keswick in the Lake District and Penzance in 2015 before our move to Cornwall.

Habourmaster Hotel – Aberaeron, Ceredigion Coast.

I would have said that the best thing about birthdays was travelling to a new place to explore, but since moving to Cornwall in 2016 we have rarely left the county and certainly not to celebrate a birthday. We usually find a nice local bar or restaurant where we can clink a couple of glasses together and have a wander around a beautiful beach or garden.

NZ Sav Blanc

We do however have a very clever granddaughter who makes excellent birthday cakes. This one was for her sister’s 15th birthday. A shame we weren’t there to help eat it!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #193|Birthdays

Published by

Unknown's avatar

Heyjude

I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.

47 thoughts on “Birthdays”

  1. What a lovely piece, Jude! I smiled at the sights and memories all the way through. The Canada trip looks a bit special and I loved the honeymoon details, but overall it shows how very privileged we’ve been to find happiness in so many places. Our expectations change with age, I think, and certainly health is a factor. Wishing you many more clinks of the glass!

    1. Yes, we can’t say we haven’t had a good 20 years with loads of memories. Hoping we’ll get away for a few more celebrations, but OH isn’t keen on flying again.

  2. Jude, your timing for posting this article is ever so slightly freaky – as it is actually my birthday today! Btw, not sure if you were following us last year but we stayed a few days in the Harbourmaster at Aberaeron, absolutely loved it!

    1. Happy birthday! Yes, I did read that post, the harbourmaster is fab. We only managed a couple of nights as it was fully booked. Great view from the loo!

  3. What a great ramble through memories of places visited, Jude. Like you, Iam finding I don’t travel far as of the last few years, but plenty of nostalgias from past travels

    1. Well we live in a beautiful county so there is no real need to go anywhere else and neither of us is keen on flying at the moment.

        4. Need to check, but what I want to do is go along the cherry walk as the trees should be good now

  4. You already know, I am something of a ‘birthday maniac’, so my list of birthday celebrations over the years would fill a novella. My 70th this year was excellent, although local. My ‘landmark’ birthday has to be my 50th, when Julie took me to Rome for four days. It was my first (and only) trip to Italy, and it had long been an ambition of mine to visit that city. It exceeded my expectations in every way imaginable.
    Best wishes, Pete. x

    1. You certainly string your birthday out 😂 there is something really special about being abroad though.

  6. Memories are what I hoped this challenge would be about, and you didn’t disappoint. 🙂
    Birthdays are as good an excuse to travel as any. Thanks for sharing some of your trips… too bad you didn’t get to share that beautiful cake.

    1. Her 18th birthday next weekend which we will be sharing with her so I am hoping she makes a cake for herself!

  7. Fabulous cake, what a clever granddaughter! You’ve both had birthdays in some lovely places. Mine is July, and a date which often coincides with the Glasgow Fair long weeken, so even when I was working the library was closed on my birthday approximately 4 years out of 7 (can’t work out what difference leap year makes). That means I’ve celebrated in lots of different places too.

  8. Well! First of all, did your granddaughter make that adorable train engine cake Jude? It’s just adorable!! Secondly, your travels all look lovely and your celebrations sound wonderful. October is a beautiful month so lucky you for having your birthday then. Mine is in mid-November which was ALWAYS the worst time of year when we lived up north and is nearly as miserable here in the south. So we tend to travel during better months and have rather low-key birthdays. But you got MARRIED on your birthday! Either your OH never forgets your anniversary or he’s in double trouble if he does LOL. Lovely post for the week’s challenge, thanks for joining us.

    1. Thomas the tank engine was made by my daughter for her son when he turned two. She’s always made fun cakes, as I did. But my granddaughter does very elegant ones. OH only has one date to remember, so far he’s done OK ☺️

    1. Thanks Janet. She does make some lovely cakes and has been commissioned to make some for friends, though she doesn’t charge very much considering the time they take to make.

Comments are closed.