Birthday! Not too shaken

The challenge has officially begun. I've reached the age of 52 and had a great day celebrating it, with a hearty English breakfast and two cakes (thanks Chrissy!) and a meal out at the exclusive LaLa Social House. I also had a Martini cocktail there, so that can be ticked off the list. The Martini was good. I tried it clean and then Amanda made me dirty it up. Also good. I must say that I preferred the excellent bottle of red we ordered with the meal.

I'd recommend LaLa Social House if you can find someone who is a member to get you in the door (thanks Ben!). Something of a 1930s Art Deco feel, but with a tall monkey sculpture thrown in for free outside. Anyway, excellent atmosphere, fantastic service and superb food.

We followed that up with a visit from Cindy and Matt for a meal here on the Sunday, where we discussed how best to approach some of my other challenges. Personally I think letting Cindy organise it all might be the way to go, but I think at least if I follow some of her advice I should be set.

I've also made a start on some of my habits. So far the walking every day has been OK. Mostly because the weather has been glorious for the last few days. Let's see how that goes with some rain or snow.

Piano practice has resumed after a 30+ year hiatus with the excellent Czerny 101 Exercises, courtesy of my parents (thank you!). If you've ever played any piano and want to get started again, it's ideal. I've been repeating the same simple exercises to try to remind my hand how to move my fingers evenly across an octave. There's a way to go.

I've also listened to a French podcast. I'm starting with the Duolingo podcast series, which after two episodes (one this week and one some time ago) I'd recommend. The host provides context to the (intermediate) French in English, which provides a helpful entry point. It's slow progress for me though. My approach so far is to just listen first and then listen again with the transcript, but even then I've had to keep pausing to check phrases I didn't recognise. (It put me in mind of the Hancock episode - The Bedsitter - where he's trying to read some Bertrand Russell.)

Overall, I'd say not a bad start. I've even managed to write it all up and post it on this blog.

Oh, and I've started one of my books - Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (I'm 16% in, apparently).