Happy Birthday Uncle Stan

Picture a sunny Sunday afternoon in a typical English country garden. Friends and family sit around chatting over a glass of wine or a cup of tea. A three piece band entertains in the background. The garden looks pretty with lots of colour and fine greenery. Young and old alike, family, friends, and neighbours have come together to celebrate Stan's 90th birthday. We were lucky, the weather was just perfect.

Stan was in his element, this is the Stan we know, surrounded by some of his many friends. He loves entertaining with his cheeky sense of humour, I can see where I get it from, there's many a time we have a giggle together.

Right Stan, are you ready to cut the cake.

Everyone joins in the Happy Birthday song.

Stan goes back to entertaining his friends.

While the ladies finish cutting the cake and handing out the plates.

Where's my cake.

Here is a little video I made, it's just over five minutes long. Please excuse the background noise, the house is close to a busy dual carriageway.

It was a smashing party, the weather was perfect, the food was great, organised by Pat. She also put in extra effort to get the garden looking nice in the weeks before. Family came from London for the celebrations.  And most importantly Stan had a brilliant 90th party. 

And me? I loved it, and was glad to be a part of it. But what's all this then, an RAC truck with my car on the back of it. I set off at 6.30pm to come home, but very quickly realised that something was wrong with the car, so I returned to the house. An RAC man was on the scene within an hour and diagnosed a broken front road spring, the car could not be driven. Apparently sometime during the day while the car was sat on the drive, there was a massive bang, and someone said they saw my car shake. I couldn't see anything wrong so wondered if something had happened on the nearby dual carriageway which was just the other side of the garden fence. I have since found out that a spring usually breaks while the vehicle is stationary.

So, bad luck that it happened at all, but good luck that I was not stranded at the side of the road. It's in for repair and I am waiting for the call when it's ready. While it's in the front brakes will be getting done, I could tell they were getting a bit lumpy and that was the next job on the agenda. A hefty bill that I could have done without, but as my car is high up on my priority list I have saved enough cash to pay for it. My emergency fund will be a bit depleted, but with my money management skills honed to perfection, it won't be long before I have topped up the balance.
The scrimping continues. Toodle pip.