Anniversary

Today is our 53rd Wedding Anniversary. It's a day that is worthy of celebration. I can never really understand how I got so lucky all those years ago, and how we have been blessed ever since.

Talking of blessings, Ellie was dropped off at 6:30 and went up to have a cuddle with Nana in bed. Outside, it was raining. This is the first rain of any consequence that we have had for many weeks. I suspect that the ground is too hard to really absorb it, but the forecast suggests we will have a fair bit of rain over the next week, so hopefully it will do the fields and gardens some good.

During the morning, we had to go and collect Jasper from Mark (the Cat Whisperer). Ellie was intrigued by the whole setup and stopped to greet all of the cats and kittens in their runs. Jasper was soon tucked in his carrier and started to complain the whole way back home. As usual, he leapt from the carrier and did a full circuit of the house to ensure nothing had been changed.

Ellie was very good throughout the day. She was clearly tired after the day with Natalie yesterday. She spent most of the day playing quietly in the living room. I managed to get time to make some significant progress on my coding challenge, and I'm now ready to run some serious tests before letting the code loose on the whole photo library.

Ellie was collected soon after three. We settled down for some quiet time with the Kindles before getting ready to go out.

An upmarket Italian restaurant, "Piccolino's", has opened in Chichester. I used to eat at their outlet in Bristol when I was working down there, and always liked it. It seemed that on a day as auspicious as today, it was an ideal opportunity to try this local establishment.

We were shown to our table in the plush surroundings. Despite being early evening, there was a buzz about the place. We settled down and examined the menu. Garlic Focaccia with rosemary and sea salt made a good shared appetiser. This was followed by bruschetta gamberini for both of us. Then Di selected a dish with meatballs (mixed beef and pork), and I had chicken Milanese. We both finished off with gelato. The food was exceptional. This was definitely a location for special occasions - and we will be back.

We were home by eight, and settled down for quiet evening.