I suppose there are worse ways to spend your birthday than being stuck behind a desk, being one of two members of the team available from a full complement of five, praying and hoping no emergency pops up requiring you to suit up and go offshore at short notice. Thankfully that, getting sent offshore, didn’t happen; and I had the pleasure of spending Friday away from work, catching up with myself…

First up was the movie 2 Guns, to set me off on an indulgent potter around the Beach Boulevard, ending up with a super-sized rib, chicken and shrimp meal at TGIFridays, the first time I was going back there since I kicked off my latest regime of healthy, smaller sized eating. Truth be told, much improved blood pressure readings from the GP’s gave me the latitude to wolf that down, and boy did I enjoy it.

I did manage to run into an old chum – odd given this was 2pm on a Friday, when he should have been at work.  It turned out it was a colleague’s birthday and they were out celebrating.

As birthdays go, the phone calls were the highlight. The god daughter F. called and sang me my very own ‘Happy Birthday’ song, complete with hip hip hip, hurray !, as did her Mum and Dad. Mum sent the predictable bible laced SMS, complete with an instruction to read and digest Matthew 6, Sis #1 called and put her 3 year old on the line too, Sis #2 BBMed, Kid Bruv Whatsapped, with a few back and forths. Such is my life, and the variety of interactions I have with my family.

All told, it could have been worse, the key thing was the introspection this has all kicked off. Hello the Year of Living Dangerously.