Posted 12:40 PM by Paul
48

Yesterday was our 15th wedding anniversary. I arrived home around 7.30 and we stayed in, had a nice Indian take away and drank wine. Heather liked her flowers and I enjoyed my chocolates. We have arranged to go to the Savoy Grill tomorrow for lunch to celebrate. This is an extravagance but a worthwhile one. It is interesting to note how many people would not pay ?50 per head for a consistently brilliant meal but would pay ?40 to sit on a plastic seat for 2 hours and watch Chelsea get beat 1-0 in the rain.

Normally I like to be home on our wedding anniversary but I was away for a couple of days at a business conference in the Midlands. Unusually for these kind of jollies it was quite useful. I learnt a lot and we made some sensible decisions. My spending habits were commented on twice during the conference. Once by a PR woman who commenting on how smart I was looking in a new suit said "they must be paying you too much". Once by her colleague who said " it sounds like your a bit of a bon viveur Paul". They were both expecting me to contradict them and I left them puzzled by agreeing.

Yes, I am well paid.

Yes, I like to enjoy myself and have no interest in playing the stock market or golf.

It may seem a bit morbid but because my father died when I was young I have always wanted to give my kids happy memories of meals out and good holidays in case I die early too. It is always in the back of my mind that life is too short for unit trusts. I have very happy memories of my dad but I always planned to give my kids the kind of treats my father wished he could have given me. We have some money in the bank and a nice house but I have never been any good at saving for a rainy day. For me the sun is always shining. Carpe Diem and all that.

Perhaps all of this is brought on by the date. I am Forty Eight today and feeling a bit tired. I'll liven up tomorrow. Then I got to thinking about past birthdays.

7 - Dad organized a surprise party for a few of my friends after telling me he couldn't afford it. The table was laid and balloons in position when we returned from the toy shop.

13 - Mum and me went to see the musical Oliver with Ron Moody and Ollie Reed. Mum fell asleep for part of it.

18 - Rehearsing with Musical Vomit. A theatre mock rock shambolic outfit who had songs with catchy titles like " I was a teenage necrophiliac" and "Laxative Lament". We all had stage names. Mine was Rocky Coastlines.

21 - Traditional 21st party upstairs at pub. All paid for by mum. Ian came up in a blizzard with a car crammed with his mates from RADA. One of them was a French Canadian who had just arrived in the country. When the lads said they were visiting a freind up North he sincerely thought they meant Highgate. The budding actors entertained my aunts and uncles with songs from Oh What a Lovely War

33 - Day after my our wedding at the vicarage in Fulham with my family and the in-laws. I couldn't take it all in really. Joy overload.

40 - Bargain basement lads booze up in Soho. We were totally skint and I allocated myself ?20 for the full day. It started at the Oasis Centre an outdoor pool near Covent Garden and ended up at a raucous meal at Jimmy's Greek restaurant in Frith Street.

48 - Heather woke me up and a opened a collection of beautifully wrapped presents including a Hugo Boss tie, DVDs and books. Alice gave me 2 ?1 vounchers to spend at Argos which were wrapped in a paper of her own design featuring two of her invented characters from the Sweety Bops stories - the naughty Enid and Carpenter.

It's not a bad life. If you hear me complaining then punch me.