We were discussing giving E a lift to her end-of-school Ball, and debating who was going to drive. Remember that S is also now learning to drive …

S: I could drive you

E: But you haven’t even got beyond 2nd gear yet

S: You don’t need more than 2nd gear …

Clearly something to remind S of in future …

We spent most of the weekend with Tim and Ann in Romsey, talking, eating and generally relaxing. This morning we sat in their lovely new conservatory sipping coffee, enjoying the sun, and listening to the birds sing as we discussed Ignatian spiritual exercises. Sounds much harder than the run I did with Tim around some roads and fields near them, despite Tim’s pace being rather faster than my normal one. (Which incidentally means I’ve achieved my first running goal of 10 runs in 4 weeks - just!) Here’s the pic after we’d got back - still breathing deeply!

Unfortunately we narrowly missed getting a table at the Tapas bar in Winchester that was hosting some live Jazz as part of the Mayfest. But means I can recommend eating at Prezzo; we’ve now eaten at their Winchester and Salisbury branches, and both times their Risottos and other food was really good.

I always expect it at Greenbelt, but I forget it might happen at Spring Harvest too: bumping into old friends or family. Last night I spotted Rob from work — who I didn’t even know is a Christian — coming out of the Tim Vine gig. Today I bumped into Auntie Rosie, and then later managed to have a great couple of hours catching up with her and Dougie. Clearly important things are going on at their church in Lymington under Peter Salisbury, ably assisted by Sarah. We bump into them later on, plus Nicola and Roger (from LiveWires) and Toby (from school).

All of this happened in the ‘Skyline Pavilion’ with its pretensions of being a big tent. (Which Tim Vine had caustically noted in a short interview make this a perfect place not to attempt doing any stand-up comedy. Which made for a surprisingly serious, and rather pointless interview. But I digress.)

We celebrated early in Edinburgh with a fine meal out at [Mamma Roma's](http://www.mamma-roma.net/). Their steaks are to be recommended

So, after some frantic extra ordering of food, as we couldn’t count the number of family and friends properly, we all had a great time at the meal. Emma got out of making a speech, but she did (wo)manfully try blowing out her sparkler candles. Young Joshua gots lots of attention, and was fascinated by the way that balloons defy gravity. Much fun. Thanks for the occasion, Emma!

See the pictures [in our gallery](http://picasaweb.google.com/thejgc/EmmaS18thBirthdayMeal), or via the Gallery page link above.

Martha still has her painful tennis elbow and Emma’s mostly got over her sprained Achilles tendon. Then we hear that Paul’s father died fairly suddenly on Friday. So Paul won’t be able to get to Emma’s 18th Birthday Family Meal tomorrow at the Storyteller in Cheltenham. We’re praying for Paul and his mother.

Welcome to my blog space - a space for me to record and explore my thoughts, which might or might not be interesting to others.

In case you don’t know me, I’m married to Martha, and am a step-father to 2 teenagers. I’m a slightly unusualodd mixture of geek, musician, strategic thinker, workaholic and possible future vicar. I have too many books, not enough sleep, and a penchant for TV shows written by Aaron Sorkin.

Feel free to comment on any posts as a way of getting in touch - I should get to see them all pretty quickly.