You may recall from last week’s postcard that both Sami and I had birthday’s last Saturday. Do you think anyone has researched whether one’s friends are chosen, in part unconsciously, because of their birth sign? Both Celina, a Taurian, and me, a Scorpio, have a disproportionate number of people’s birthdays we recognise in our own star signs.
“Did you celebrate, Sami? Large cake and some fizz? I know you said you couldn’t join us at all on the Saturday, which was a great shame, so what did you do?”
“Lisa’s not a fan of cake unless it’s gluten free so, no, no cake but we did have a meal out. But mine wasn’t a decade to celebrate, unlike yours!”
“Many months ago, Celina and I discussed just what to do, in addition to splashing out on a fortnight in Costa Rica, leaving in the middle of next month. Should we hire a room in The Grand Hotel or in a Community Centre …… and just say to my contacts list: ‘Come’ ….. or just not do anything, and all the options in between? We ended up with two events. The first was a small party for some 18 of our 10 o’clock hot yoga class participants two evenings before my birthday. Always fascinating to talk to individuals away from the studio and learn more about their lives and loves.
The plates cleared away – lunch at Semola
On my actual birthday we had a family lunch in Semola, the local Italian on Church Road.”
“Now there’s a coincidence, very odd, as that’s where we went on Saturday evening! Think Luca and Roberto run a great place and the food is amazing.”
“At the top of our road is a new deli, ‘At The Table’, run by a local chef and social engineer called Sophie Taverner. We discussed what we needed from her and came up with a plan. She catered for the evening party, organised ….
… the fizz and the hire of the glasses, booked Gracey to help and made two coffee cakes for the evening party and for after the lunch at Semola.”
“After Semola?”
“We went back home for some fizz and cake and were joined by eight of our neighbours; that was good fun too. In my manuscript ‘thank you’ letters for the wonderful, inventive birthday gifts I received, I wrote that:
“The dust has a long way to go before I might consider it settled, after the delight of the past few days. I might of course measure it by the gradual decent of the helium-filled ‘8’ and ‘0’ gold balloons or by the pressure from Celina to put away my many birthday cards. I feel so grateful to be where I am, who I am, at this stage in my life and thank you for your friendship.”
I am so lucky to be in very good health despite having a triple heart bypass in 2013 and a prolapsed disc operated on in 2017; must be the six sessions of hot yoga a week!”
“Actually, that’s quite a good photograph Richard! Scrub up well, you do. You wrote manuscript ‘Thank You’ letters? Wow! How old fashioned!”
“No! No! How modern! Look, I took a photograph of the letter and sent it via WhatsApp! Some people have been surprised I have reached four score years. Most weeks I go down to the Fish Shack on Hove’s promenade …..
….. and buy some crayfish tails and anchovies in oil. If I go on a Sunday the kiosk is staffed by Edward, a very tall young man who can’t stand upright, given the low internal roof of the shack! He’s just turned 18 and has almost recovered from his own birthday celebrations. Mine, incidentally, were remarkable for the very small amount of alcohol that was consumed, although the evening party was solely fellow yogis so one shouldn’t be surprised! Edward asked how old I was.
“What are you, Richard? 55? 60?
“How old is your father, Edward?
“43”
“How old is your grandfather, Edward?
“78 ….. (although he had to pause to do the maths!)
“Ah! Older than your grandfather then!”
One present was a book from an ex-boss and now very good friend Varina who lives near Brisbane in Australia. She and husband Ron had been in South Island NZ and heard of/seen this book.
It arrived by post a few weeks ago and was put aside for my actual birthday. Coincidentally Celina was going to Portugal for a few days and cousin Toni had ordered a couple of books from Amazon UK. Varina’s book went to Portugal too! Toni denied all knowledge of it, the penny dropped and back it came to the UK and now is in my pile of books to read.”
“I read your postcards, Richard, but I sense other people do too! Remember you wrote about the RNLI in PC 513 Saving Lives at Sea (16th October 2026) and how its recent rescue of people aboard a dodgy dinghy had propelled it into the political moras of current migration debate? I was pleased that The Times had obviously read your postcard as, on October 19th, one of its Leader articles was on this exact theme!”
“Thanks Sami! But also, hard on the heels of PC 511, in which I wrote that ‘various government departments and organisations are dragging their feet over the implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling that sex is based on biological sex; surely, they have a responsibility to implement the 2025 law whether they agree with it or not?’, NHS England updated their guidance on 15th October. They said: ‘trans patients should be cared for on single-sex hospital wards that align with their biological sex rather than their gender identity’. The law being implemented – after a year!”
The gradual deflation after a wonderful celebration
Richard 30th October 2026
Hove
http://www.postcardscribbles.co.uk
PS You should not be surprised that Francisquinha thought her birthday was the same day as mine; never wanting to be out of the limelight!
