Monday, September 03, 2007

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to me

The city was 800 this week, I was a mere 42, but both events went very well.

I took some great photos and video clips of the 800th birthday pageant but they are on a different laptop so will have to load them up later.
I enjoyed the service in St Nicholas's Church on the front, the mariner's church, with all the different religious leaders sitting together at the altar. I loved the pageant, lots of colour and pizzazz and everyone was so beautifully dressed and choreographed. My defining moment though has to be when Pete Price got all the "dignatories" to do a Mexican wave, bishops, captains, mayors, lord lieutenants, minor royals, councillors, you name it, up we all got. The tears were running down my face, I was laughing that much.

The horse muck was an interesting saga - will it still be there by the time the pageant arrives and two thousand people have to walk through it - or will some poor soul have been deputised to pick it up (the latter eventually, and just in the nick of time)

Met the Italian Ambassador during the reception in the Town Hall, she wants to come to the Italian night in Fairfield Police Club, I took her card.

For my birthday I decided on lunch at Bistro Jacques on Hardman Street - three courses for £7 and all very tasty, I had soup, salmon and creme brulee, a bargain and a half. There was Mum and Roger, Wendy, Jane and Peter, Stephen Twigg and my manager Elaine, she didnt know whether to courtesy, tug her forelock or what - Jane is "our" Minister and civil servants set an inordinate amount of importance and stock by them. Colin and Mike were meant to be there too, having arranged their holiday so that they would be back in time, but they had the journey from hell coming back and missed it.

Apparently Ryanair cancelled the flight back from Santiago del Compestela on Thursday after leaving them hanging round for five hours first. The next flight would be Tuesday they said! So the guys joined another couple in hiring and sharing a car all the way to Madrid 750km, in the hope of finding some flights out of there. They caught one to Luton in the end, then got a coach to London and spent the night walking round, dragging their suitcases, waiting for Victoria to open and let them in for a warm. They finally got the coach back up north at 9am the next morning, only for it to break down in Milton Keynes! Two coaches later, via Manchester, they finally arrived on Friday evening

What a nightmare

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy birthday !

Anonymous said...

Pete Price isn't a blues musician is he? If he is I've met him on Hoy.
Cath
ps hope you had a good one - it looks like you did.

Louise Baldock said...

I doubt it to be honest Cath. He is by way of being a local celeb, he said as much to the Malaysians in the audience at the Pageant. Very famous in Liverpool but nobody else will know him. He is a presenter and does a column in the Echo. I am too new to know his history and import, google him, see what you can find.

I had a nice day on my birthday but very dignified and sober and thoughful and tasteful, all parks and flowers and respectable guests for lunch, no falling around drunk in night clubs and going home with strange men and waking up in the house next door, nothing like my 21st, 21 years ago, at all!

That it should come to this....

Louise Baldock said...

Thank you Anthony, you dont look old enough to have been a councillor for 8 years.

Were you only 22 when you were elected?

Do you know my mate Suzanne Richards? Silly question, of course you do. Isn't she just wonderful? You are very lucky to have her back in Glossop.

Email me if you want to gossip, no sense in letting the world know your Glossop plans,

Louise