We celebrated Ian's and Jeremy's birthdays in Goldhanger this weekend. The children were madly excited, at bedtime, to be put into the car instead of their beds, and it meant a comparatively quick journey for us.
After our customary visit to the Goldhanger playground, we were delighted by the presence of the Essex Samba Band in the village square. Tiny village, LOUD NOISE! Having only seen samba bands in television footage, I had no idea how they operated. They had so many different sorts of percussion instruments, and their leader controlled the music with a whistle and some very exotic gestures. They were wonderfully rythmic, and I was surprised by the wide variety of people in the band.
The afternoon saw Jane being so patient with the children as they all made Grandad's birthday cake together.
Then we went to Maldon quay to pay our respects to Brythnoth, hero of a famous defeat. He's relatively new in town, and stands at the end of the Promenade Walk. We were mildly surprised to find no indication of his name or the name of the sculptor, John Doubleday, anywhere.
Sunday meant the usual three-generational bunfight, with Fenella and Stephanie's families joining the party, but this time the children, to their delight, ate their lunch from around the kitchen table, leaving the adults to the relative civilisation of the dining room. And to show how attuned the family is to each others needs, Fenella and I gave Jeremy the same birthday present (the six Connery Bond movies) and Fenella and Jeremy both gave Ian the Last Mughal. Synchronicity or flippin' irritating? You decide!
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