Iesus Non Amat Me

It's my birthday and I came downstairs this morning to find this:



Presents from my lovely mother (who does not make me solve puzzles before I can open them cos she's much nicer than I am!) I managed to restrain myself long enough to drink my coffee before ripping them open to find...

( Goodies )

I decided against going anywhere to celebrate cos I couldn't think of anything that sounded fun to do with all the restrictions currently in place. Instead I stayed at home and rewatched season one of Downton Abbey while building the Lego NES. I could possibly have done it all in one day, but I stopped after five episodes and have so far made the console, controller, cartridge and part of the TV:

( Lego So Far )

I have the week off work, so that's plenty of time to finish both the rewatch and the set. I'm thinking that I'll probably continue the rewatch into season two as well. And possibly season three. But definitely no further than that!

And finally, bask in the glory of my traditional epic poem of birthday brilliance:

36 has divisors galore
But I am 36 no more
Now for a year after I make this rhyme
My age will be a number that's prime

Mum and I went to the Jane Austen House museum in Chawton for my birthday today. I filled in their survey at the end and when I got to the question about age I had to hesitate cos this particular birthday puts me in a whole new age bracket and I've always been a stickler for recognising the exact time I was born, which we had not yet reached. I stuck to that and went for the younger bracket, although now I would be in the higher one.

It was a good trip, really interesting to see the house that Jane Austen lived in, and the garden was lovely. There was also a really cute cat roaming around, which is always a good thing!

I took lots of photos, naturally:



( House )

( Garden )

I took a lot more pictures of the garden, mainly close ups of flowers, which I'll put in another post cos I don't want to overload this one too much!

Of course as it is my birthday it's traditional for me to regale you all with my epic poem of birthday brilliance:

This morning I was 34
That's not the case any more
Now it's time to laugh and smile
Cos 35 is now in style.

(That was harder than usual, cos my brain just kept singing "35" to the tune of "Stayin' Alive"!)

And finally, I've noticed a bit of a theme with my presents this year:



Those are from three different people. Clearly my love of gin is well known!

Birthday time! I am now the grand old age of 28. It seems nice so far, I think I may keep it for the full year.

Presents include the Lego Millennium Falcon, Monopoly, Mateus Rose & Ferrero Rocher, Tangled 3D, Absinthe, the Avenue Q book and a really rather awesome cocktail set.

Mum and I went to Winchester for the day. I'm sure I've been there before but it was a long time ago and I didn't remember it at all, so it was like I was seeing it all for the first time. It's a lovely city, very much like Canterbury in many ways (although Winchester's Westgate isn't nearly as impressive for not having double decker buses going through it!) We went to see the Round Table and the Cathedral and Jane Austen's grave. I had a lovely time.

The plan for this evening is to order pizza and I may or may not try out my new cocktail set (depends on if I want to risk ruining the champagne by adding stuff to it!)

So far, today has been a very good birthday.

But, of course, no birthday would be complete without my epic poem of epic brilliance moving you all to tears, so, without further ado, here it is:

Twenty seven was hard to rhyme,
But it's not so bad this time.
And now that I am twenty eight,
I'm gonna make it really great.

You're welcome.

Hello! Tis my birthday! I have had a great day and I would love to tell you all about it but I am le tired, so I shall leave the main post till tomorrow.

Of course I couldn't end the day without sharing my traditional birthday poem with you all, so here it is:

Another year of being alive
Means I'm no longer 25.
And now I find I'm in a fix
For what to rhyme with 26.

Personally I think it'll go down in history as one of the greatest literary works of all time, but I may be slightly drunk right now.

Today is my birthday and, as long-term readers of my journal will be aware, it has become something of a tradition for me to write an epic poem of unparalleled brilliance in order to celebrate turning one year older.

This year I have struggled to come up with something that can compare with the genius of the last two years, but I think I have achieved it:

I spent a year being 23
But now I know it's not for me
And now I'm 23 no more
I hope I'll like being 24

I'm not sure if Fury liked it much though, considering she jumped on the keyboard and backed me out of this page then laid down on the keyboard. Fortunately she has now discovered something more interesting over with Dad so I am free to share my creation with the world.

Feel free to bask in its glory.