58 and counting

Various people asked me how I planned to commemorate the day.  June asked if I was going to cycle 58 miles.  I told her not in the rain.  A friend asked if I was going to run the same distance as my age... I said I had already run 100km before, so I just needed to live up to 100!

It was great to receive your well wishes the night before - it made me miss you guys more.  This would be the second year I celebrated it alone...  Anyway the fact that back home it would be my birthday a few hours early motivated me to go for a run and count it as my main birthday activity - as well as the fact that the weather would be pretty dreary on the actual day of my birthday:).  I think it is a fabulous way to celebrate.  It is a chance to feel alive and give thanks to God for keeping me healthy enough to still be able to run or cycle or whatever.  And to always take the opportunity to glorify Him when people say they are inspired by me.

Oh and before my run, on the way home I saw Theresa May entering her London apartment, accompanied by her two bodyguards. I told you guys and mummy asked if I saw her shoes - apparently May has an impressive collection of shoes:)  I only knew that she has some nifty dance moves which she showed off during some conference when she was still PM.

Back to the run... it was a lovely day with the temperature around 18 degrees and so I headed out in tee shirt and shorts and it was perfect running weather.  I am guessing it's too warm for the locals... I decided to do one of those runs where I had no real route or destination and see where that takes me, within reason of course.  I don't want to end up somewhere and have to take public transport back.  Don't worry I had my mask with me.  I even tried running with it once - I bought the Under Armor mask and you can run while wearing it.  Actually when it's really cold, wearing the mask helps as you breathe in air that's warmer.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vXOdB9DXrkq

Miserable weather on my birthday, but it was nice to wake up to lots of well wishes.  That alleviated the loneliness of the day for a while but by the afternoon, I felt I just had to get out.  Some mission colleagues had found out it was my birthday and arranged to have drinks at a pub at 6 pm.  I decided to head out around 3 pm to Old Chang Kee.  You see, last year I had bought two curry puffs from there as my birthday treat and I decided that this would be my tradition as long as I was here in London.

As I reached OCK, I realised it was too early to buy the puffs and head back home, and then decided that I would have cake at WA, just across the street.  This is a lovely Japanese patisserie that has lots of great matcha stuff, and it was difficult to choose but in the end I settled for this.  It is a matcha tiramisu.  Had Earl Grey to go with it and that was my birthday cake :)

After that it was off to OCK where I bought curry puffs for myself and also for the colleagues I would be meeting, and I could not resist getting the nasi lemak as well.  I really wanted some taste of home for dinner and thought I might eat both the curry puff and the nasi lemak - last year I had two curry puffs for a meal!  

Then off to the Duke of Wellington pub near Eaton Terrace - here's a tip, don't just look up the name of a pub in the UK (but also check the address), as there are many pubs with the same popular name and you might end up at the wrong place!  Duke of Wellington is one, Fox and Hound is another.  Just googled and at number 1 is Red Lion!  Why?  The red lion was the heraldic emblem of Scotland and when James I (from Scotland) came to the throne he ordered that the symbol had to be displayed on all buildings of importance, including pubs.  That fact alone tells you how pubs are such a feature of public (no pun intended) life, and why the recent restrictions imposed on pubs created so much unhappiness.

We sat outside, so as not to break the rules on gathering indoors - currently people from different households cannot meet indoors.  My colleagues surprised me with a small slice of cake from L'eto and it was really nice of them to go to the trouble.  I had a bit of cake and just some chips (loaded chips - with bacon, cheese and other stuff - really rich) - partly because I was still a bit full from the cake, and the Guiness is also a very nutritious drink:) - but also because I really wanted to eat the nasi lemak later when I got home.  There is a choice of filling and I decided to be very conventional and chose dry chicken curry.  There is a vegan option of jackfruit rendang, which I will definitely try next time - I still recall that wonderful jackfruit vegetable dish (sayur lodeh) Gabe and I had in KL, and which I couldn't find the next time I went with Ethan and Mat.

All in all, it was a good day as I give thanks to God for these 58 years, but most of all, for you guys... The well wishes from many friends made my day for a while, but the next day the feeling wore off and I wish we could have celebrated it together.