Fifty-Two - The Birthday Epic

Thanks for the messages, comments and emails. My birthday was fabulous and turned out to be my favourite type of celebration, the sort that went on for days. I know fifty-two isn't a landmark birthday but I'm still pretty amazed that I made it this far.

Gifts included loads of Lush stuff, booze and posh foodie bits, an antique doll's tea set (demonstrated by my Mary Quant doll, Daisy Longlegs who I bought in 1978) and some dolls' house miniatures.

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On Thursday Liz and Al whisked us off to Birmingham city centre's Wetherspoons where we had lunch and a few beers before making our way to the Alexandra Theatre for the matinee performance of Benidorm Live, the stage version of Derren Litten's legendary comedy series set at the all-inclusive Spanish resort hotel The Solana and featuring much of the original cast. It has hilarious.

After paying homage to one of Walsall's most famous sons, Noddy Holder of Slade, immortalised in Lego in New Street Station, 

 We proceeded to one of our favourite Birmingham pubs, the stupendously glamorous Bacchus Bar, for a few more beers. A gang of Scandinavians complimented me on my Victor Costa dress and wished me a happy birthday.

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The following day we met our pal and fellow member of the Dead Relatives Society, Tony, in St. Matthew's Hall, Walsall's Wetherspoons, which was built in 1830 and was originally the town's first free library. I'm not implying that we spend a lot of time in there or anything but we got staff discount at the bar. 

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After a couple of pints we caught a taxi five miles down the road to The Vine in West Bromwich.

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The Vine is one of the Black Country's famed desi pubs, boasting a fantastic selection of Indian food and real ale in a traditional British pub setting, available daily from 11.30am. We hadn't been before so were very excited to get stuck into a decent curry and we weren't disappointed.

What is a desi pub? Read all about these Black Country institutions HERE and HERE.

 I had Sri Lankan-style mixed vegetables (Madras-hot and cooked in coconut) whilst the boys had Rajastani-style chicken (for Jon) and lamb (for Tony) along with a peshwari nan and plain rice. The food was delicious, spicy and without a hint of oil or grease. Even the masala chips were crisp and delicious.

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Known for being footie-fan friendly, we weren't sure how raucous The Vine was going to be as West Bromwich Albion were due to play in a local derby against Aston Villa later that evening. When we got there the fellow diners included business people, shoppers and, inexplicably, a large party of Germans (West Bromwich is hardly on the tourist trail) but as the day progressed we realised they'd travelled especially to see the match. By early evening the place was packed out with supporters of both teams and although it was noisy the atmosphere remained friendly. On our neighbouring table were a party of Norwegian West Brom fans, again over for the match. 

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With queues building up at the bar, at 7.30 pm we got a taxi back to The Wheatsheaf, an early 19th Century pub a five minute walk away from our front door. We ended the night having spent 11 hours drinking .....who says you get more sensible as you get older? Not me!

The lads!

Both of us woke up surprisingly clear-headed on Saturday morning and after breakfast got stuck into some furniture moving and general rejigging of the house. Of course, a day in doesn't mean slobbing around in jogging bottoms (I don't own such horrors) and I wore one of the two vintage dresses Curtise had sent me for my birthday. This cotton maxi is by Frank Usher. For some bizarre reason the previous owner had removed the zip but the shirred bodice has plenty of stretch so it didn't affect the ease of putting it on. Needless to say I didn't wear the hat indoors, it hid my 11 hour booze-addled face.

After a mid-morning brief visit from a friend we settled down to watch, Iris, the film documenting fashion maverick, Iris Apfel's life which my lovely friend Lynn had sent me. As it was directed by Albert Maysles, who was also behind legendary films, Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens, I knew I was going to love it and I did. What an inspirational (and exceptionally stylish) woman she is. We spent the evening drinking some of my birthday rum, catching up with the excellent spy drama Berlin Station followed by parts 3 & 4 of gripping thriller The Sinner.

Forget the god bothering, Iris Apfel, like me, worships at the shrine of the accessory!

On Sunday morning after my brother had popped round bearing birthday gifts, a pair of vintage fashion advertising prints, we popped into Walsall to get a shaving plug for the epilator Jon had bought me. I feel like an outsider from mainstream society at the best of times but honest to god, the madness of Xmas leaves me more bemused by the normals than ever. What is it with those massive Primark bags everyone carries around? Is that where everyone buys their Xmas gifts? No wonder the chazzas are stuffed with Primark clothes with the labels still attached - nobody wants the shit. Anyway, throwaway fashion aside and plug buying accomplished, we called into the new clearance charity superstore where we found a few vintage pieces for the stock room, a new keyboard for my PC, a '70s Indian fringed scarf & beach blanket for our India trip and two wooden frames in which to display my brother's birthday prints and still had change from £20.

Sunday Girl - my second birthday dress from Curtise, a 1970s Robert Newman of London W1 dark floral maxi.

After lunch I braced myself for my first session with my epilator - I'd read a billion on-line reviews over the years describing just how unbearably painful epilating is. Following the instructions to the letter I used the more gentle first-timer's attachment on its slowest setting and didn't feel a thing so I changed the head to the efficiency model (supposedly for experienced users), ramped up the power and did both legs without any discomfort - in fact, it was so utterly painless that I went on to do my bikini line as well. Disclaimer - like my mum, my pain threshold is ridiculously high, I once spent an entire day at school nursing a broken elbow in silence as I didn't want to make a fuss and walked around for 28 years of my adult life with a dislocated hip.

After Liz and Adrian had popped round bearing gifts we ordered pizza and spent the evening watching the French subtitled historical drama, Resistance - this time rum-free, our first booze free night since Tuesday...shocking!!

Normal service has been resumed today and I'm wearing a fabulously sparkly Lurex maxi my dear friend Ann (Polyester Princess) sent me for my birthday, accessorised by a heap of brass jewellery (all either chazza-shopped or inherited from my mum) and a fringed bodysuit and suede platforms (also by way of a charity shop). After I've caught up with all I've missed in the blogging world I'm going to spend the rest of the day packing my India bag, or at least thinking about it.

Linking to Patti & The Gang for Visible Monday.