Later post - 21st Jan

Celebration day. I leap out of bed  - well I get up as usual if the truth be known. Blake and I go out for our early morning walk. It's good today as we don't meet any other people or dogs - I'd been getting a bit concerned that we kept meeting the farmer and his wife and the other guy with the unfriendly dog.
After breakfast I go over to Phil and Bren's as he's got an electronic Sniffer which we can connect to our Audi to analyse the codes being thrown up by the onboard computer. Our mechanic has told us that the electronics are in trouble and have to to replaced. Phil thinks that's too simplistic a view and feels that we could track down the problem and just fix that problem without having to do the whole system. We don't have any joy and it starts to rain so we have to give up the research for the moment.
Back home I get the fruit salad ready and sort out the drinks for the evening. Andy, Kay and Courtney turn up so we have lunch and a natter. Marian is having trouble with her runny icing so we do some research on the web to figure out how to get over it. Success!
I rope Andy in to help me set up the kitchen. Pascale, Alex (and Colin) turn up with Kevin and Sheryl. They are followed by Phil, Bren, Odette, Christian, Dave, Carla, Steve and Laura. Its a bit of a squeeze but we get everyone round the table.
Its a great evening with curry, rice, dahl and rotis (fried by Alex and clapped in by Pascale) done by Marian and a sag paneer and Aubergine curry from Pascale and Alex. This is preceded by onion bhajis, pakoras and pappadoms (deep fried by Alex). All washed down with wine, beer,  water, cokes, j2o in various forms for each of us. Christian has brought along some Gentleman Jack (mellow Bourbon) and Odette has a Malibu alternative. For afters we have fruit salad - the bulk of which is uneaten tonight - cheeses and a special coconut cake made by Marian. Its delicious and goes down well.
The chat and banter goes on well into the night until it is just me, Andy and Alex. In the end it is me and Andy who is really up for a few drinks! We chat and reminisce until late into the night - actually it is gone 4 by the time I convince him it is time to hit the sack.
A fantastic and memorable day! But, as usual, we have forgotten to take many pictures.