This is shockingly overdue. However, first here is an update that has being sitting in my draft folder since October...

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I can’t believe how long has passed since my last post. So much has happened and if you are sitting comfortably, then I’ll begin. The big news is that I now tick the 30-40 age box on questionnaires. My birthday went really well. On the actual day I had lunch with friend Kinky Malibu who got me a lovely necklace. I then went to the cinema in the afternoon with my parents to see The Devil Wears Prada. I liked the film but it isn’t as good as the book. Meryl Streep is fantastic though and I’d have loved to see what she could have done had the makers remained true to the book. In the evening I had a family dinner with my parents, sister and brother in law (don’t worry you haven’t missed anything. They haven’t got married, but in every other sense I have a brother in law) and my Grandad.

The day after my birthday I went to see friend Boopsie Venus and her baby. We had a lovely day together and the baby is very cute. Having said that he was quite well behaved. I’m sure if he’d been screaming all day he wouldn’t have seemed as sweet! In the evening I went out to dinner with friends Bonnie Sin and boyfriend, Kinky Malibu and Debbie Dicks. I got a present with each course of the meal including a balloon to tell the restaurant how old I was. Luckily there was also a 60th birthday meal being celebrated so I looked relatively young.

On Saturday I saw friends Lolita Slides and Sandy Jets who made a special trip down from Birmingham to see me for such an auspicious birthday. We had lunch together and a long catch up. It was a bit rushed which was a real shame but I had to head off mid afternoon for my birthday celebration with my family. Instead of just going for dinner I decided that I’d like to go to London to see We Will Rock You. I’d heard good things about the musical and thought it was fairly unisex so my Dad and brother in law couldn’t complain. My sister decided to take on the mantle of organiser in chief, and so booked tickets, sorted train times, booked the restaurant, got us to the restaurant and then onto the theatre. Without her it wouldn’t have happened as my parents couldn’t possibly cope with the intricacies of organising a night out in London. I could have sorted it all myself, but when it’s your birthday you don’t want to have to organise all of the celebrations yourself. My sister did well! The meal was at a nice Pizza Express, we made it to the theatre in plenty of time and although our seats were right at the back they were fairly central. We all really enjoyed the show – if you haven’t seen it, then go. The story is pretty lame but I can forgive that considering it has been shoehorned in around the songs. There are some laugh out loud moments so it wasn’t all bad! The music of course is excellent and the actors had fantastic voices, doing justice to the Queen songs.

The whole time we were at the show we all had the feeling that we were the only people who hadn’t seen the show before as lots of people were laughing before a joke even came. At one stage the audience even pre-empted the We Will Rock You hand clap which made all of the actors laugh and lose their place. At the end it all became clear – we were the only people who hadn’t seen it before. The encore was Bohemian Rhapsody and at the beginning of the guitar solo the entire audience suddenly got to it’s feet. As we were at the back we were the last to see why the place had erupted. Coming up through the trap door playing the solo was a curly haired bloke who looked suspiciously like Brian May. However, until he started making a speech we weren’t entirely sure that it was Brian May. It turned out that the night we went was originally supposed to be the last night that We Will Rock You would be at the Dominion. Due to public outcry, the run was extended, but by that time half of the cast had already found new jobs and so that night was their last performance – hence the special appearance by Brian. Obviously all of the die hard fans knew what was going to happen and so booked tickets for that Saturday night, which coincidentally happened to be after the weekend after my 30th birthday.

The following day, we did the family party thing when my Aunt and cousins descended onto my parent’s house like a plague of locusts and I got some lovely presents from everyone.
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I never got round to finishing the post as I went on holiday the following week. The cruise was interesting. I loved the places I went to and like the idea of being able to see lots of different places without unpacking all of the time. However, I found being on a ship with 999 other people quite claustrophobic, especially as the majority of them were old enough to be my parents or even my grandparents.

The run up to Christmas was filled with the usual parties and other fun things including my work Christmas party and friend Bonnie Sin's 30th birthday party. I also decided to put my flat on the market which made an already busy period frantic. Initially there wasn't any interest, but after a couple of weeks a few people came round to see it. I finally accepted an offer the weekend before Christmas. As soon as I'd done that I went out and brought myself the biggest Christmas present ever! I’ve reserved an apartment in a development called Fairfield Hall which is about 10 miles away from where I currently live. I originally saw it in the summer and fell in love with it, but never quite got round to doing anything serious about buying a place there. It’s a beautiful building which looks like a French chateau dropped down in Hertfordshire and is set in its own parkland. Although I love my flat I’m tired of the ASBO teenagers of Stevenage congregating outside my flat every night to shout, fight and who knows what else! The downside is that the apartment won’t be ready until late summer so my parents are welcoming me home with open arms (or in my Dad’s case an open empty wallet which I will be expected to fill)

Christmas was hectic but I really enjoyed it although I was only off for the two days I had to come back into work on the day after Boxing Day. New Years was different - I went bowling with friends Kinky Malibu, Bonnie Sin and some of Bonnie Sin’s family. We haven’t been out for a few years so it made a change not to just be at someone’s house at midnight. However, I am useless at bowling and didn’t improve during the 7 or 8 games we had during the evening.

So far this year I have spent most of my time trying to sort out paperwork for my house sale and purchase. As soon as I complete one set of forms, then a new set arrive. Last week I got my new contract for Fairfield. I spent an hour and a half reading last night and have hardly made a dent in the information I have to get through. However, on Friday I get to do the fun things involved in buying a new place – choosing kitchens, tiles, flooring etc.

So that’s it. I’ll try and keep a bit more up to date in future.