I thought of a good present on my own. And the beauty is that it is also a present for my dad's birthday. And will probably count as a wedding anniversary present too. Three for the price of one (though it is one very expensive present - not £4000 though). Ker-ching! It's so good I am not even going to tell you what it is so that you can't copy me. I rock!
So back to Cheddar to see my family for the first time since the broadcast of "You Can Choose Your Friends" and a chance to find out what they had made of being the initial inspiration for the show. It proved a confusing blend of fact and fiction for them because some things came from real life experiences, whilst others were made up by me or came from other people's family stories.
But the family had taken it in good heart, my dad offering me some Doritoss that he had bought specially, and one of my presents for my own impending birthday being a photo album of my life with a family tree in the front - something that was in the show, but not something that had happened in real life til now.
But I think on the whole they enjoyed the show and they kindly provided me with lots more moments to include in any potential series. Dad managed to burn his hand on a plate at lunch which had been accidentally heated up by two small candles that had ended up underneath it. All this going on whilst I tried to regale the family with the story of my legendary fight, thus managing to upstage me. So anyway they haven't disowned me, though they seem to all want me to pay them for the lines they claim I have stolen from them. Though many of the things they thought I had based on them were actually details added by the actors who have never met any of them. So it just goes to show that people are all more similar than you might think.
My family had also got me a birthday cake, which was an exact (though smaller) facsimile of the one I hold on my Edinburgh poster. I was very touched by this, not least because it meant my mum or dad explaining to someone that they wanted the word "F CK" on a cake and then that someone having to do it.
Anyway it all turned out to be a jolly celebration of the start of my mother's eighth decade and the beginning of my fifth. Even though there are still a full clear ten days of me not being 40 to go yet. I drank a bit too much champagne and had to go to bed, though I am sure that was mainly down to the fresh country air.
