It was my birthday last week. I am now 28 years old. I have surpassed the 27 Club. I have outlived the likes of Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, and my birthday twin Amy Winehouse. That one is still hard to grasp. I guess since I have some time and it is Monday after all, I may as well tell you what I got up to for my birthday week. Welcome to Monday, by the way.

The electricity is currently out. It sounds like a writer’s dream. However, the smoke alarm keeps beeping. Typical. So, last week. Billie had the week off work and so he invited himself down on Wednesday, aka my birthday-eve. Is that an expression? Well, it is now. We had a nice time. We went for a drive around. Thankfully, the weather was reasonable enough. We had an early dinner at a wonderful pizzeria which is a staple of this town. It was very quiet. It was 5 o’clock on a Wednesday. We weren’t surprised really.

Here's something I forgot to mention. My Mam fell and broke her wrist that morning. The day before my birthday. Having broken her ankle only a couple of months ago. The poor woman can’t catch a break. Needless to say, my plans for the next couple of days had to change. I won’t complain. Its not what a stoic does. But I am still dumbfounded.

Billie and I made do, and we had a nice evening together watching Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The next day, my birthday, was incredibly uneventful. My parents were at the hospital, Billie went home early, my sister was in work. It was my first birthday without Pepper. It was a shit day. There’s no denying that. I did get to go to an open mic that evening with Jack and another member of our writing group (I haven’t given her a nickname yet). We had a nice evening. I met Polarbear. That’s a big deal. He is a lovely man.

Jump forward to Saturday and I am on my way to Dublin to see a matinee show of Aunty Donna. They are an Australian sketch comedy group. It was their first show ever in Ireland. It felt great to be there. Go watch their Netflix show. The reason I went to the matinee show was because it was time for party number two that evening. Kurt and Fred came up and we had pizza and watched Taskmaster. It was a lovely time. They are fine young men. I can say that. I am older than both of them. I am older than Billie as well. Fun fact, I guess.

Now its Monday. I have a bit of the Monday blues. Did I mention the electricity is gone? Yeah? Well, sorry. It just bothers me. That’s enough from me. I can almost guarantee a blog on Friday. Almost. Thank you for reading. Thank you for surviving the summer. We are in the last lap of the year now. Time flies. Thank you, as ever, for your time.