Birthday bash

Today’s guest picture, sent to me by Dropscone, shows the flood on the road south to Carlisle that our bus had to get through to deliver us safely to the train yesterday.

After yesterday’s experience of trying out the free Wi-fi in the hotel, I put my hand in my pocket and paid for a faster connection today.  It worked a lot better.

We are in London to celebrate Susan, my eldest sister’s eightieth birthday and we had a coffee with her and Mary, my middle sister when we arrived in London.  The family had turned out in force and Mary took this picture of my younger son and me while we were having our coffee.

My older son meanwhile had met A P McCoy, one of his heroes, while walking along the street and had his photograph taken with him as one does.

We went on to have an excellent tapas meal with assorted young members of the extended family at a restaurant near to our hotel before passing through the colourfully lit Kings Cross Station….

…on our way back to the hotel to get ready for the big day.

The weather this morning was kind and after breakfast with my nephew Dan at the ornate  St Pancras Station…..

…Mrs Tootlepedal,  Dan and I visited the nearby London Canal Museum  while we had some time to spare before the party.   This museum had been recommended to me by my sister Susan and had featured on her own blog a few weeks ago.  It is situated on a basin of the Regent’s canal.

A cormorant was resting there

The museum was very interesting and had several historic pictures of a grim and derelict appearance which were obviously of scenes from many years ago but which turned out to have been taken well into my own lifetime.

The party took the form of an extended lunch in a pub attached to St Pancras Station and there was a good deal of snapping going on while we ate.  I hope to have some good pictures taken by others to show in the course of time but here are a few of mine meanwhile.

The birthday girl failing to blow out the candles on her cake by some distance.

Susan’s many nephews and sole niece

The group of those whose lives have been immeasurably enriched by becoming entangled with our family….and who have immeasurable enriched our lives in the process.

After a fine meal, we left St Pancras, passed Kings Cross….

A superbly simple but elegant facade

…and went back for a little lie down to recover.

In the evening, a small party of us went to the cinema to see Grand Budapest Hotel, a Wes Anderson movie of great charm and that rounded off a good day (apart from the absence of any flying birds).