All Roads Lead To Rome

Tomorrow I shall be flying to Rome, to begin my 40th birthday celebrations. I'll be gone a week or so and this blog will remain closed in my absence. After that it'll be back, refreshed and renewed for the autumn season.

And does turning 40 worry me ? Well, not as much as I thought it would, in fact it's produced some positive benefits. This impending milestone has forced me to, as the Americans say, 'get my shit together'. And my life is a lot more in order than it was a couple of years back.

In case you're interested, on my actual birthday, I shall awake in Rome, will breakfast there and no doubt read telegrams from all over the world congratulating me (ahem). Then we will go to the railway station and take a train into Tuscany and eventually to Florence where we will dine in sight of the famous bridge. All in all I've had much worse birthdays really, and thus the sting of turning 40 will be drawn to some extent. Having said that, to quote a pupil of mine, this birthday does tell me something i.e. 'things are now getting serious'. So from here on in, if I want to do something I'd better get the Hell on with it.