Many thanks all. It was a quiet day, much of it spent on the phone chatting with others, as well as some quiet contemplation of the insides of my eye lids. We'll save the hell raising for this weekend.
Seldom do we have birthdays any more - we have *events.* We did a ritual cow-burning on Friday night with a few friends, two of whom are hitting the 5-0 this year (soon) and needing a shove. Otherwise. it was pretty much a tame *event.*