It’s the big day: the Kinderbeast’s fifth birthday! I drop him at school with three tubs full of cup cakes then head to work. I have a big meeting scheduled for the afternoon, but birthday thoughts keep me helpfully distracted. The meeting goes fine in any case and I head home as soon after as I can manage. I forget the time and choose the route home that takes me past a school that sits on the campus grounds. It’s fifteen minutes before I’m clear of the place. It’s a burning hot day and the car desn’t have air-con. My thoughts turn quickly to beer even though I’ve been considering staying off the alcohol for a while (I have a suspicion that my beloved wine–which I typically drink in pitifully small quantities–may be partly responsible for my lack of energy over the past weeks).

The Kinderbeast has been waiting patiently since he finished school to open his presents. I pause long enough to grab a beer and then we get into it. It’s a good haul, with lots of LEGO, and he calmly makes his way through it; playing with one toy for a while, then getting stuck into something else. I’ve always appreciated the way he treats his presents: never loses interest the moment they’re opened; always gives each new toy its time in the sun.

Various local family members come over to pay their birthday greetings. The beer seems to have awoken the coughing beast that has lurked at the back of my throat since the middle of January. I eventually resort to some hot honey and lemon, but the persistent coughing has left me knackered.

We have McDonald’s for dinner (since the birthday boy gets to choose) followed by a freaking enormous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cake, which is going to last for days.

The family members make their way home after dinner, leaving us in the company of our awesome friend Seb, which means that Fridate officially begins. It’s a quiet affair this week, everyone content to chill out in the company of their phones. We do, however, squeeze in some SNL favourites, a few music videos and a handful of trailers. I hadn’t seen the Logan trailer before, and I’m instantly keen. With that and the LEGO Batman movie coming up, there’s at least two good reasons to indulge in a Gold Class outing.