My September birthday

First of all the book I won by Chris Nickson arrived, signed by the author to me personally, which is a lovely touch. It's called The Broken Token and is the first in his series of Richard Nottingham books. It's set in 1740's Leeds and on reading the first few chapters, seems very good. Easy to read and manages to capture the time and place exceptionally well. I'm looking forward to the rest of it now.

The morning was spent in Jedburgh, on a gorgeously sunny, blue-skied Borders day. We started off by picking up my rabbit brooch, which I'd made on the craft weekend there. I think it looks great after having the verdigris treatment.

Then No. 2 Son and I found a perfect spot to stand while waiting for the Tour of Britain's Stage 3 to start. It was right on a corner, so we could see the start and then they were due to go down the road opposite us and came back up the High Street right in front of us.

No. 2 Son with flag waiting in the sunshine

An hour later, with a flag in hand (given to me by a local rotary club person) and after much neighbourly chat with all those standing around with us, a flurry of police motorcycles went by, then they went by again, then some local kids and adults on bikes went by, then the motorcycles came again and then the 94 pro riders swept by in a matter of a couple of minutes... and that was it!

I did, however, manage to capture a pic of Bradley Wiggins who was at the back of the field as they started out. Not that you'd guess it was him in a million years, so you'll have to take my word for it.

This is Bradley Wiggins at the back of the field at the very start

The Peloton

We left pretty smartly and back home for lunch, then out in the afternoon to find a tiny second hand bookshop in the middle of nowhere just outside of Kelso, called Found It At Last. They had quite a selection but not sure how they actually make any money. Definitely somewhere to go back to when my bedside To Be Read pile is barely there.

When we got home my son had a go on my e-bike and then we settled down for another evening of films. We started with 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs', which I thoroughly enjoyed, and then moved on to 'Treasure Planet', which was ok, but not one I'd watch again. We finished with 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou', but I'm sorry to say I couldn't stay awake til the end, so we'll finish that one today before going to Edinburgh to catch up with No. 1 Son tonight and work tomorrow.

All in all a very good birthday and even better for having shared it with one of my boys.