27th January.

Today being the 27th was my birthday. I am older and wiser than last year that's for sure. The 27th is an interesting day to be born, being Mozart's birthday, and also the writer Lewis Carroll, Dmitri Mendeleev, chemist (discovered periodic table of the elements) Jerome Kern, Broadway composer, William Randolph Hearst Jr, newspaper publisher, Mikhail Baryshnikov, ballet dancer ,Alan Milburn, MP and as for events on this day, there was the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. So that's why we now have Holocaust Memorial Day today and that's why being Jewish my birthday is a bit more sombre than it used to be. Still we make the best of it and the day started with a trip to Synagogue. You see how much of a good time I can have!? Well we decided to try out somewhere new in Newcastle. These days I tend to get quite nervous about going new places and seeing new people. Its mostly to do with can I get in somewhere and how will people react. Ive had a few dodgy experiences with access as you know, which makes me expect the worse. And as for people its hard to tell what they think. I can either be ignored or given too much attention. Neither is great, and makes me think I should have some sort of flashing light on my head. But you know what? I was pleasantly surprised, the building was lovely the welcome warm and no awkward moments or questions... yet anyway, so I think it looks certain that we will go back.

Now the trouble with having a birthday at this time of year is that the weather is always miserable and much as Id like to do something exciting, pragmatically its not likely with a 3 year old in tow. So we went to Ikea, sat in their cafe for 2 hours, had a nice cheap lunch, with coffee and cake and our son played happily in the children's corner. On coming home we scoffed all the food we'd bought in the Ikea food shop and watched the Da Vinci Code which was a complete load of nonsense, but mildly entertaining for a couple of hours. All in all it was one of the best birthdays Ive had in a few years, a pleasant day with no stress.

My husband bought me a course in Transcendental meditation. Not the sort of gift you generally get is it? the idea I think was to calm me down, as I'm prone to getting stressed through general frustration, or start jabbing my finger with anger. Although I'm not half as bad as I used to be (believe it or not!!) the whole thing is a waste of energy and counter productive. So hopefully it will work. Lots of people do it so why not have a go I say?!

Here a picture of me with the new chair and son (GET THAT DUMMY OUT!!) taken at Ikea. I must say sideways isn't that flattering as I'm starting to look pregnant!