The photo that leaps out of this blog was taken on my 50th birthday last week by Debbie in Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall. I don't think I've ever been happier. Seeing and hearing Rick Stein talking about his life and work in Padstow on TV last night helped me relive the moment. I for one am not fed up of TV chefs. I like Rick Stein, just as I like Jamie Oliver and Ainsley Harriott. OK, I don't like Gordon Ramsay or Delia Smith and I simply can't abide Anthony Worrall Thompson. You can't have everything. But you can have a great 50th birthday with the people you love.
markgriffiths@idealconsulting.co.uk
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And so here it is on a blog that too few follow. But it really doesn't matter... I get to say what's been bubbling under for a while now. A retrospective of sorts of the 30+ years we've known each other. Not accurate, not proportionate, just loaded with 'observer effect' on how I see it now. Now that you (and I) are fifty.
ReplyDeleteI see your image now, and can still see the 1977 version, all intensity and intellect. Hands mostly trust in pockets (not open and embracing), occasionally rubbed in glee and ,more occasionally yet, waved in excitement.
You were at once the observer, the cryptic commentator and the chief protagonist. Yours was always the best summary the night before - often abstracted down to a new word.
We were born close and have traveled intertwined lives. But we were always on different courses, our viewpoint was the same but we surveyed different horizons.
And yet... to me... and to my family, you are still my other brother. Ever welcome, fondly remembered though seemingly always burdened by more than is fair.
And now I see you at 50. I reflect on our last meeting, and how we've not spoken for 10 years. I can see that our journey was not different at all. We were both (always) looking for love, and thankfully we both found it some 10 or more years ago.
I cannot be more happy to see you content, in love and beloved.
M
Martin, I appreciate what you've said. You're the only one who could've said it. Being in love and beloved means you get your sheets changed AND you get to save your life. And you get to give whatever it is you have to give. I often think of your family, because I never really felt that I had much of one of my own. I've looked to you (and others) for leadership. It's taken me a long time to find the leader in me. I guess that's what my 40s were about. Looking forward to talking to you next week.
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