I am feeling slightly guilty about the fact that I missed my school governors’ meeting yesterday, due to work pressures, but managed to take two days holiday last week to join a party of kids, teachers and parents on the annual sports trip to Jersey.  Organised by the Jersey schools, its a three day sports marathon of competitions in netball, football, indoor hockey and (my favourite) rugby sevens.  We sneaked in nine holes of golf on the morning before the sevens tournament, and ate at the Village Bistro, with a strong sea food bias that evening, making it pretty much a perfect day for me!

It is always rather daunting to be videoed while you are performing, and I recently had a chance to watch myself refereeing as a fellow referee kindly agreed to stand on the touchline and point a camera at me.  Actually, having found the game a bit of a challenge as it was my first at that level, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I actually look like I know what I am doing for at least some of the time.  More experienced referees will do doubt find things to criticise, so here it is for any comments, critical or otherwise

http://www.youtube.com/v/Iy-PH9YSZDA

It is amazing what a week in the sunshine and fresh air will do for you.  It is so far removed from my normal office based existence to be an real shock to the system, but one that feels great, especially that point at the end of the day when the boots come off.  I had a couple of hours tuition with an italian instructor called Gabrielle, who works as a freelance architect when he is not teaching people how to ski, and he made me work a lot harder on my turns,  which paid off on the moguls where my turns felt more like I was in control and less like a desperate attempt to stay upright. 

Little Elk decided that staying upright was not the name of the game, and spent more time with skis in the air than on the ground, but seemed to be enjoying himself

Birthdays and chocolate are always irrevocably linked in my mind. I was therefore not disappointed when my breakfast in bed this morning comprised one cup of Earl Grey team (my usual early morning fare), one cup of decaffeinated coffee (my second drink of the day) and my very own chocolate iced birthday cake (strictly annual treat) delivered by Shopping Addict.  Followed by cards, some very classy jewellry from Big Elk and a new refereeing whistle from Little Elk.  So, as I count my blessings, here is my list for the perfect birthday:

• Breakfast in bed
• Sunshine and blue skies
• Chocolate
• Presents that people have thought about, bought and wrapped, and are the sort of thing that they think I would really like
• Several glasses of expensive white wine, either with or without bubbles
• The company of good friends

Big Elk has arranged for us to go to a wine tasting at Tower Bridge this evening, and the weather forecast for London http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_weather.html looks glorious all day.  Perfection!