It was my grandfather's 80th birthday party on Saturday (he doesn't actually hit the big 8-0 for another couple of weeks, but this was the only Saturday close to it that we could book!). Lots of family and friends flew back from England, and many more came from locally. We had it in the Woodlands Hotel in Adare. I had seven relatives and their partners -- Davina and Mark, William and Manuela, Kevin and Ali, and Siobahn -- staying, so it was a full house! Bas and I played host to the guests on Friday and Saturday, making sure they had enough to eat and drink, getting their beds ready, etc. It's hard work when people come to stay, but I love having company, so I never mind.

Got a bus to the Woodlands and a wonderful night. It was fun to see so many relations and friends, the food was great, the service was first-class, the band was ideal. Lots of mingling and chatting, catching up on all the family gossip, telling people about my trip to the States, etc. My granny hasn't been in the best of health recently, but she was in sparkling form on Saturday. The evening was a little bit poignant, in that I found myself looking around every so often and wondering if we'd all ever be together like this again, or if we'd have lost a few of the family by the time of the next big get-together. But at the same time, the knowledge that a death or two was likely over the course of the next year or so also helped me enjoy the night more -- it's one of the things I stress in my books, that we should all enjoy our good moments in life to the fullest, because there's no way of knowing when things will take a turn for the worst. Of course, most of us don't pause to reflect when life is good, and only realise the high points long after they've happened. But on Saturday I was aware that this was a lucky time for us all, that we were all together, all in good form, all happy and relaxed. In life, you can't have a great night every night, but this was one of the great ones, and I recognised that at the time and did my best to enjoy the night to its fullest.

The bar stopped serving at 02.00, so everyone went home. But several came down for an impromptu party at my house. Luckily I had lots of drinks in the fridge, and we stayed partying for a few more hours. It was 06.30 before I got to bed!!!! A longer night than I'd anticipated, but all the sweeter for the unplanned extension. I didn't even mind cleaning up after everybody when all the others in the house were in bed and snoring at the end of the night!! It was quite fun to be the only one awake, drawing gradually to a close rather than just hitting my bed and falling asleep immediately.