Growing old is inevitable....

.....growing up is optional!

Presenting my Mother, 65 today.

We had a great time in Manchester, the weather was glorious too which was a bonus.

First stop was Patisserie Valerie for brunch. Mum thought this was wonderful as her name is Valerie! Brunch for Mum consisted of a pecan and walnut tart. I stuck to a plain old americano coffee.

From there we had a wander around the shops and Mum had her make up done at Bobbi Brown in House of Fraser. The make up girl deserves a bonus after her work today, Mum was like a moving target....talk about fidget!!

For lunch, we went to a place called The Alchemist, which is mine & Mr A's favourite restaurant; I boasted we have never had a bad meal there.....spoke too soon didn't I?!

Mums food was great (she's modelling the prawn lollipops in the blip) but mine (Thai red chicken curry) tasted really weird.

I'm positive I've had it there before, but today it just wasn't right at all. The manager was lovely; I said it was my favourite restaurant and I've always enjoyed the food before. He offered to get me something else, but I said I was fine (in truth I was a bit put off by the taste of the curry).

He apologised and said he would look forward to seeing me there again, which I assured him would be in the not too distant future.

When the bill came, it was minus my food, which I thought was good service, especially that I'd not had to ask.

We had another look round the shops before getting the bus home.

Mum thanked me for a lovely day & said she's looking forward to part 2 with my sister and Theo tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Mum!