Looking back

Given my recent 81st b*rthday, I have begun to think about how well I have used those 81 years. And I am rather amazed that all my original joints still work well most of the time, that I still have 10 each of fingers and toes and that I am usually in no pain or discomfort. I am full of two types of cancer but I am on medications that are slowly defeating both.

So is there any one occasion that was a highpoint in my life? I can think of many very pleasing occasions, not all of them fit for public mention, but I have chosen one that I do think was a highpoint in my life. It is already online here but the following is I think the essence of it. It was the occasion of my 53rd birthday:

"On the Monday itself I took JHM to The Clansmen restaurant. It has various Scottish features, a vaguely Scottish cuisine and is situated in a beautiful old colonial building at Annerley. It is a bit dear so I go there only on special occasions but when I do go I usually wear the kilt in honour of my shreds of Scottish ancestry (I have one ancestor with an Irish name [Joseph Kelly] who was born in Scotland and another ancestor with a Scottish name [Jane Burnside] who came from Ireland!).

On this occasion I wore full Highland formal dress: My red MacRae tartan kilt, white pleated dress shirt, black bow tie, black silk waistcoat, Prince Charlie jacket etc. JHM really loved it! I think "splendid" was her word for my attire on that occasion. JHM, of course dressed beautifully for the occasion too. She wore a shapely black classic suit she had bought from Harrods in London many years before and teamed it with a rather elaborate cream blouse that was also from Harrods. She has kept the same figure for many years and always buys classic styles so she can do that sort of thing. And since it was midwinter she put on her MINK jacket over it all to step outside the door. With her golden hair up in her usual chignon, with her fine white skin and her usual perfect grooming and poise she really looked as elegant a lady as any man has ever taken out.

I was equally aware that there was a brilliant brain behind the steady gaze of her pretty pale blue eyes so I felt a very fortunate man indeed at that dinner"

She and I are still in friendly contact but she too is now in her 80s and neither of us get out much these days