Rosco's 40th Birthday

For months and months, Vicki and I have been planning and scheming behind the backs of our husbands. But it's all been for the greater good. You see, Vicki decided that as a surprise for Ross' 40th Birthday, she wanted to bring him down here to visit one of his oldest and best-est mates in the world. Cue lots of emailing and discussions, picking suitable dates and planning this big surprise. I even managed to keep it from Iain until the day before they arrived. It had been my plan to make sure Iain was home for lunch on Friday and then say, "right, come on, we need to go somewhere", but I had to change tact at the last minute because he was trying to arrange an extra french lesson with Sylvie. As soon as I said he couldn't, because I had a surprise for him, he guessed straight away. He was absolutely skipping with joy. 

The weekend passed in a total blur of laughter, and you wouldn't really expect anything less. They arrived into Pau at lunchtime on the Friday and the boys went a "cycle" in the afternoon. That is, they cycled to the pub. In the evening, we enjoyed a BBQ at home and got on the red wine. 

On Saturday, Iain headed off to work and I took them into town for a wee while. Rather than forcing them home for William's nap, I suggested they stay in town for a bit and enjoy lunch out together and it's exactly what they had the chance to do. In the evening, it was all aboard the Section Paloise rugby train for the home match v Montpellier. 

Unfortunately they lost 15 - 24 so rather than hosting a Super Sunday here, it was billed as a Sad Sunday. 

The only photos I have of the day do not do it justice whatsoever. We actually ended up with quite a lot of people here and the booze was flowing all day long. For it being the end of March, Rosco even managed to get sunburnt! 

It was an all too fleeting visit and they left first thing on the Monday morning for the red-eye up to Paris. It was absolutely brilliant having them here and it feels like no time has passed since those silly holidays with them in Xabia, 15+ years ago. They left us a very thoughtful parting gift of a teapot. They know us so well! By the Tuesday, it had already been christened. And William loves his Les Animaux du Monde book which they also bought him. Spoilt. 

We're so lucky to have such good friends. 

Lorna :)