Picnic

After the disappointment of the annual 30th Birthday Party for Katie(*)  being cancelled, a few of us got together for a picnic in West London.

The drive up there was dreadful - every tractor, traction engine, cyclist, red light and traffic queue that could have intervened - did. Google's 110 minute estimate or the previous evening turned into three hours. To add insult to the journey - the car park was full when we arrived and we had to find a side road in which we could safely leave the car.

Despite the delays, we arrived before the Silver Vixen's sister and before her cousins. We settled down in Brent Lodge Park in a spot that had access to some shade - wasn't too far from the rest rooms, and was quiet and away from the busier parts of the park.

We settled down to a game of pass the parcel (the parcel being 6-month old Louis). Despite the man-handling - he remained calm and amused by the various adults he was meeting.

As usual with these events, huge mountains of food were provided and we grazed throughout the afternoon.

Meanwhile, each part of the family provided the latest news from their quarter. We heard about holidays, extensions, building work, work, customers, weddings, hen-dos, and heavens knows what else.

It was a lovely afternoon. Everything broke up around 5 o'clock and we started to pack and for the cars. Fortunately, the journey home was a lot less troublesome and we were home within a couple of hours.

Lovely day.

(*) Katie is married to the nephew of the Silver Vixen. We have, erroneously, sent her 30th Birthday cards for the last two years. This year, it would actually be correct... but we have resolved to just stick to 30th every year.