Great day on Saturday with the kids to celebrate my birthday. Started with cards in bed and then a nice big breakfast together, took Orla to ballet (equals me drinking latte and reading Kate Muir) and we all went for lunch at the Spencer Arms in Chapel Brampton, very nice. Then a drive in the country with some off-road action, a walk by the canal and home for hot chocolate with marshmallows. Homemade Macaroni Cheese for tea, and mint ice cream for dessert: all stuff they like. I have no idea what I expected to happen on my 40th, especially with Mrs G away, but it was really nice to be with them for the day in peace - perfect I think. Also enjoyed a long chat with Sammy later, while Sarah and I drank champagne and she played Nintendo. One of us must be low maintenance!

So now fortysomethingness is here for the next ten years, and already it is undeniably different seeing my name with (40) next to it. Spotted it in my profile on Photobucket tonight and it made me jump. There is definitely a sense of being less young, but that may just be coincidence. My eyes have been killing me the last few days and ‘leaking’ in my sleep, never happened before and I am putting it down to a 40-itis virus! Would also explain the constant tiredness at the minute; I must be under the weather as I never need a huge amount of sleep every night.

The good side of forty is that it is a kick start, a mid-life boot up the arse to get back to doing stuff you like and get some of the long-standing personal and domestic issues sorted out. So I have recently gone back to the dentist and have a month’s worth of appopintments arranged. I cleaned out my old Jeep and that is going to be welded and put back on the road in the next few weeks, and I will probably sell my 4runner. Sorted out some charity shop stuff from the shed, as we are knocking that down soon, so we’ll have one more job off our building list. Then the gym is beckoning. All these things are driven by forty, I’m sure of it. As was cleaning up the lane which runs down the back of our house today - proper ‘old man’ stuff.

To welcome middle age and round the weekend off in style, I went out for a ride today in glorious sunshine, practising my cornering. A quarter pounder and cheese next to a dual carriageway later on never tasted so good. Dentist tomorrow (well, today I mean) and I am dead excited: means I get to take the Monsignor to Banbury again. That’s what I am calling the Monster by the way, because not everyone is a fan, he has a few old-school quirks that are a bit irksome (jerky mid-corner carbs and cranky old suspension), but he makes me smile on a regular basis and it all feels good for the soul!