Over Confident With The Skittish One

A momentous occasion this morning, not only is it my first run of 2009, having been restricted by 'the cough' until now but it's also MD's first off-lead around the pond. Perhaps I'm being over confident with the skittish one but he loves it.

We have a lunch date in Derby at 'Le Bistrot Pierre', not quite as posh as it sounds, because today is my brother's 50th birthday. He's quite a bit older than me, so for a day at least I feel less of an old git. Although don't they say 50 is the new 30, whatever that means. My Mum and Dad get revenge on him for the big inflatable '80' he got them for their birthdays with a big 5-0.

We get the whole family out for such a significant occasion and as we chat, we find out that, surprisingly, Son backs up what Daughter said last night. He too prefers it when we go out on a Saturday night. He reckons we're a 'pain' when we stay in. Not sure, what he means, we rarely see enough of him to inflict any pain and he doesn't elaborate... it's so nice to be wanted.

Son also informs us that he still has plans to go to University, although he's not giving any assurances that this means he'll leave home. He seems keen to study something law related, which I'm sure would be good, even if he doesn't want to become a lawyer. As L points out the lad in 'The Reader' was a law researcher, which looked a cracking job, although the chance to study war crimes trials doesn't come around that often. There are other parallels, just like Son, he was also studying literature. So all Son needs now is his Kate Winslet, preferably without the Nazi uniform.