A few weeks before I entered upon my ninth decade this invitation appeared in my email:
I had wished to keep quiet about it because:
I was also about to leave on a two-week trip to Germany and was involved in a number of other bookish projects so I had intended to keep my head down and perhaps have a quiet pizza with family members who happened to be in Exeter at the time. But I'm glad that I didn't, as it gave me the opportunity to be in touch with family, friends and colleagues, many of whom had supported me through a couple of difficult years. So thank you everyone who sent emails and cards and the thirty or so who turned up on the day, including some who had come from the United States. I will be in touch with you all sooner or later. In the meantime a few pictures:
Of course, it wouldn't have happened without Kate, who arrived on the 11th to set up a gazebo and bring some extra chairs and tables and sort out the food and drink.
While I was in Berlin I had a quite acceptable cream tea in Cafe Einstein in Unter den Linden with real clotted cream rather than quark or similar Teutonic concoctions and I thought that would be a more manageable idea back in Exeter, perhaps with a savoury option.
I will spare you too many photos of individuals you may have forgotten all about, but must include my sister, known as "Sister Jill (the Holy One)" to distinguish her from my wife Jill, who was also in the garden with us, under an apple tree which is already bearing fruit. Sister Jill had come down from her home in the Lake District to be with us, together with assorted cousins from various parts of England. There was also a contingent of school friends as well as work colleagues, local researchers and friends accumulated since our arrival in Exeter in 1977. It was great to see everyone.
I chose the hottest day of the year so far for the celebration, and it became unbearable under the gazebo, but the second lawn was a haven of coolness under the copper beach and the conversation flowed and people mixed. I managed to speak to most of you during the afternoon.
My actual birthday was Sunday 13th and I had insisted that my birthday treat would be Jazz on the Quay, especially as La Vie en Rose, my favourite group in the series, would be playing.
And I had my quiet pizza after all, with family On the Waterfront. The picture above shows daughter Kate, watched by granddaughter Pippa bringing in a cake which seems to be inspired by some fearsome Pokemon monster - just the thing for an old bibliofool. Below they are joined by son Neil and grandson Sennen. The assorted cousins were also present. It was a happy weekend.
I had not long returned from Weimar and Berlin where I had travelled on the first anniversary of the death of Hubert, my friend of more than sixty years, who had died just a week before Jill. I was presenting copies of his works to libraries, museums and archives in Weimar where he was a noted local and literary historian. There I met for the first time his widow Sieglinde. We had helped each other through the last months of our partners' lives and through the grieving process through emails. Now we enter the ninth decade of our lives together.
2025, a jubilee year.
