13th February, 2004

I am having a small dinner party on Saturday night to celebrate my wife's "significant" birthday I told you about previously. As a special treat I have invited our eldest daughter Henrietta ( aged 11 ) along for early evening drinks with the idea that it would be a special treat for her and that she'll depart before dinner. She asked this morning if there would be "young" there. No, she was told, there were no children invited. She elaborated by asking who the youngest other people coming would be. The answer is of course that everyone will either be on the wrong side of 40 or at best honing in on it pretty quickly. " Oh ", she said with obvious disappointment, " So there won't be any snogging then ". It's a worry.