Hilarious

What a fun day we have had. It was our annual Christmas meet up with La Famille Black, and we started off with an excellent lunch at The Anchor Line in St Vincent Street. Jennifer joined us for lunch since Ryan was unfortunately indisposed, and then we walked down to our traditional Christmas haunt, Metropolitan, where Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel were waiting for us. As well as Ryan, Andrew was also absent; he is still in London and he was very much missed by all of us. They had already ordered some cocktails and we had such a great afternoon; everyone was on good form and at one point my face actually felt sore from laughing, as Jennifer recounted some stories from our Tuscany holidays in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was really gratifying that the young people have such good memories of their Tuscan adventures, and at one point I felt quite emotional as they reminisced about a photo scavenger hunt that I had organised for them, and talked about what fun it was. They also all made me laugh by insisting that I am notorious in the family for unintentionally revealing “spoilers” for films that I have watched; I didn’t know that I had this reputation but it’s probably a fair cop!

My arm was very achey all afternoon; the nurse at the fracture clinic had warned me not to wear my splint too much, but with hindsight I should probably have worn it for a lengthy afternoon in town. I took some painkillers which helped a bit. I also had terrible heartburn after my big lunch; Cat and Chanel ordered peppermint tea for me and Jennifer even popped out to Tesco to get me some Rennie’s heartburn tablets. These kind actions brought me quick relief from the burning symptoms and enabled me to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile, on a big screen in the main part of the Old Fruitmarket, the young ones were able to keep a sideways eye on the progress of the World Cup Final between Argentina and France. Argentina won on penalties. 

After a convivial afternoon (and indeed early evening!) with lovely family and friends, we picked up a curry on the way home and watched a Disney film called “Disenchanted” which was very pleasant. It was very cosy in the television room and Cat made us all hot chocolate. By this time everyone was very tired and started heading in ones and twos to bed. Strangely, although I’m sure partly due to co-codamol, my arm was feeling better than it had all day, so I felt able to whisk round and tidy up and mop the kitchen floor before I went to bed. What a lovely day.