40 years and Mr Happy

I mentioned to you last week what a wonderful day I had on my birthday with Vanda in Greenwich. Well, I was lucky to have another treat this weekend. One of my good friends, Tim Montgomerie, whom I met at University (the very first person I came across), organised a wonderful 40th birthday Party last night and invited some of my closest friends.

The Party was in the New Inn Pub, Roydon, a beautiful old Pub. After drinks (or three) we sat down to Shepherds Pie, Guinness Pie and - as the picture shows - some delicious birthday cake. It was such a great evening, and as always I ate too much.

Tim and David Burrowes (an old school friend), proceeded to make some speeches about my more youthful days, perhaps revealing a little too much!! One of the nicest moments was when Vanda received a big bunch of flowers from a friend of mine who was unable to come. They are so huge, we have had to put them in a salad bowl. I shall have to buy a vase pronto!!

All in all it was such a wonderful evening and I hope to post more photos at a later point. Last night, I felt a very lucky and happy chap. Great friends, a special girlfriend, a party in a fantastic village Pub and a vocation that is a passion.

P.S. - to my friends - please note word 'amazing' is not mentioned once in this post above.

P.P.S. Thank you to all my friends- and Tim especially for an AMAZING evening.

Birthday Treats

As I can't sleep - too much coffee as usual, I thought readers might like to know how I celebrated my birthday on Sunday. For those who don't know me, I reached 40 years on 22 March!

Well, the best part of my day came when my wonderful girlfriend Vanda made a surprise breakfast of venison sausages and eggs together with coffee and cranberry juice. Just in case that wasn't enough, there was toast, brie and pate too. I should note that this giant breakfast came just after an equally huge dinner at one of my favourite restaurants - Francos in Roydon. Yet I still had a good appetite.

After breakfast we drove down to Greenwich as we had planned to see some shows at the Planetarium and also to see the John Harrison clocks. I am a mad collector of watches so was really pleased to be doing this.

Arriving at Greenwich was such a joy. The sun was shining, Blackheath looked beautiful and we got a parking place right outside the Observatory. In all the car journey from Harlow took only 45 minutes.

The Planetarium shows were incredible- in 3D without the need for funny glasses. I now know about the Stars, the Sky at Night and Mars - well at least a little more than I did when I was 39. The best joke I heard was from one of the presenters, who told the audience "don't bother to switch off your mobiles, as they won't work anyway, as we are under tonnes of concrete"!

We had lunch in the gardens of a wonderful tearoom in the sunshine taking in the view of Canary Wharf and the Dome.

After, Vanda insisted on being photographed on the exact spot of Greenwich Mean Time, so we had to wait in a long queue. But it didn't matter, as I sneaked into the museum shop!

Going into the house which holds the Clocks was amazing. John Harrison was one of the great geniuses having solved the problem of ships navigation and longitude. In essence he developed the first ever GMT clock. He took over thirty years to build the device and had many obstacles to overcome on the way. The clocks and watches that John Harrison built are quite a feat of human ingenuity. More so because they were made in the 18th Century.

So, after Greenwich, for something completely different, we made our way to the Rain Forest Cafe in Central London. This was a great place and good fun with moving gorillas and roaring tigers very near our table. I was shocked to read from the menu that rainforest has gone down from 14% of the earth's surface a few years ago, to just 6% today.

All in all a wonderful day. One of the best birthdays I have ever had.

Small Business Football and Table Tennis

Its a strange life being a Prospective MP. My day started meeting Colleen Morrison who runs a recruitment business in Bush Fair. Over poached eggs on toast we discussed local issues including the complex parking issue. I also chatted to the local butchers about the issue. Independent butchers are rare these days and I was sad to see Dewhurst shut down in Broad walk not so long ago - particularly since I was a great fan of their Roasted Lamb on a spit!

I then rushed off to Starbucks to meet a wonderful lady, June, Editor of the North Weald Village Life and the website of the same name. She has set up the magazine from nothing and it is now a profitable venture. I was meeting her to discuss Hastingwood issues as Hastingwood is new part of the Harlow Constituency for the next election.

After, loads of casework and correspondence, helped by my hard-working volunteer Assistant Ann Russell Day.

Then it was time for Pickles- of the Eric variety. The neighbouring MP for Brentwood and Conservative Party Chairman, was in Harlow visiting Harlow Football Club and the Norman Booth Centre.

Simon Morgan, HFC Chairman, is making the Club even better and is doing loads of work in the community. I was pleased that Eric could see the club. Later at the Norman Booth Centre, Eric and I played some young lads table tennis, and we lost 11-3!!!!!!

Eric then did a great dinner to Harlow Conservatives and spoke about love bombing- what he meant was that we should treat our opponents with respect and not rise to the bait if they do underhand tactics and try to provoke. He was right.

Today I am off to Harlow Writers Workshop and then its free time until Monday, Its my 40th birthday tomorrow! I am lucky to be celebrating it with my beloved girlfriend Vanda.