I turned 58 yesterday. The day kicked off with a very melodious voice message from my good friend The Letterkenny Babe. As I listened to it I was reminded of the time that Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to JFK.

My afternoon was taken up by a very pleasant liquid lunch with The Godmother and The Slane Cousin. Stumbling out of Salamanca restaurant around 2, I bade farewell to my guests and headed straight for a wee afternoon nap as I due to drop into my Ukrainian neighbours at 7 for round two of the celebrations.

My evening with my recently found Eastern European friends proved to be a memorable gathering of family, fantastic food and one or two drops of the good stuff.

I received several kind and thoughtful messages during the day.

All of which leads me to believe that I must be doing something right.