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| Breakfast gift giving |
It’s been a week of getting ready for all the birthday excitement that
kicked off today, and it was well worth the effort! It was Nick’s 30th
birthday, and it’s a day that I hope he won’t be forgetting in too much of a
hurry!
To kick start the
celebrations on a high I woke him up earlier than normal (which he hated me for
a little bit), but I hopefully made up for it by whipping up a breakfast of
croissants (millions of croissants) coffee and juice, all laid out on the table
on our balcony, flanked with bunting and balloons to make it a bit more
special.
Once we had eaten it
was time for presents. First up was the jacket made by our tailor in Thailand,
which he put on and refused to remove until the very end of the day – he even
changed his shirt to ensure he could wear it with confidence without being
concerned by colour clashing! There followed a couple of other little trips and
small things from me, cards from his family, a very disconcerting e-card from
my parents, a photo book from his parents that he utterly loved (and took to
Bali with us so that he could show the others), a beautiful cigar case and pack
of cigars that he got massively excited about and that he’s already planned
when to smoke and who to share them with.
Having told him that my
main present was the jacket and the bits and pieces that followed, I then
informed him that I had one more ‘joke’ present for him and then we would have
to go to work. He seemed to be pretty stunned when the joke gift turned out to
be the watch that he’s been dreaming about for over a year, but it seems like
it was worth the wait. That went on and stayed on for the next few days (doing
even better than the jacket!).
So that was breakfast –
we then took a cab to our respective works and I left him to get through to the
end of the day in a flurry of cakes and lunches with his closest clients. By
6pm I still hadn’t told him our evening plans, but I did shoot him over a quick
email to say that we would be meeting for cocktails at a little place called
Bitters and Love just by my work, and so we set out to meet up for our quiet
pre-Bali holiday dinner.
The cocktail bar was
fantastic, and we passed a good hour or two settling in and trying out a couple
of really delicious drinks. Whilst here I told him that we would be going for
dinner at a little tapas place on one of the up-and-coming streets just outside
of town called VidaVino. He’d never heard of it and I think he was expecting a
big slap up steak dinner or something similar, and so I spent some time
apologising that it wasn’t something more special, more amazing or more
impressive. I played along being sorry for having let the day fizzle out
pathetically without any fireworks to finish with.
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| A privately hired restaurant and 30 of Nick's fav people to celebrate with |
A cab ride later, we
pulled up outside a shop house that looked like the small downstairs restaurant
wasn’t even open. The disappointment from him grew! Thankfully when he walked
into the restaurant and nearly cried when 30 of his closest friends were
grouped right there, ready to sing happy birthday to him I think I was just
about forgiven.
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| Man time at dinner - somehow the jacket has come off by this point! |
There followed an
evening of dinner, drinks, laughs, chatting and general merry making. And cake,
a great big massive cake from the Russian cake lady at the Pasarbella food
market that Nick loves. Before we knew it, it was 3am and time to go home ready
for our early morning flight to Bali the next day. It was a bit of a nightmare
having to keep all the plans and conversations a secret from him for the past
few months, but it was well worth the effort, and I think (very much hope) that
he had a truly cracking day!
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