It’s Geoff’s Birthday

[Mcneilwaeasteel]

Many happy returns and best wishes for a return to good health, with many more birthdays to come!
Robert

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Wot Low mileage said and many more to come please Geoff.

[Jif]

Thanks guys, will be having a quiet day with my lovely wife and our two youngest sons, I say youngest, they are 41 and 38. Our oldest is 45 but lives in the Netherlands so will likely do a facetime later, looking forward to speaking to our two grand daughters who are now both 13, identical twins. Family is so much a treasure in these hard times.

So I am now officially a pensioner, which is a bit scary, the extra cash will come in handy though

On the health front, I've just finished chemo and am now in remission. Next month I start the preparations for a stem cell transplant which I'm not looking forward to but it can double the remission period, so short term pain for a long term gain, as my consultant keeps telling me.

And the good news is I can play steel again for short periods which is lifting my spirits

[Danny Mitchell]

Sounds like you're in for a great, and well deserved day, Geoff, and I'm very pleased to hear of your steady progress. Onwards and upwards, Young Man!

[Uncle Roy]

Belated birthday wishes Geoff, I hope you had a good peaceful day my friend.

[Ken Byng]

Happy Birthday Geoff!!
Welcome to the great clan of UK pensioners. Best wishes to you, Janice and the rest of your family.

[Jif]

Thanks for your kind wishes chaps. I had a nice day, no birthday cake but my youngest made me my favourite pudding - a clootie dumpling. My gran used to make me one for my birthday when I was a lad and we're keeping the tradition going.

For those who don't know what a clootie dumpling is, it is a dumpling made in a cloth, clootie is a slang word for cloth. You put all the ingredients into the cloth, it can be a dish cloth or whatever, and then suspend it over a pot of boiling water so that it is steam cooked. The ingredients are not unlike those used in a christmas cake, lots of dried fruit, chopped apples etc and it is coated with suet. They are delicious, I had mine with ice cream, yum

[Danny Mitchell]

Clootie dumplin'! The absolute king of puddings, even as enjoyable when fried up and accompanying the full Scottish Breakfast.
Geoff, was anybody lucky enough to get the threepenny bits?(for the sake of any southern types, this is not rhyming slang)

[Donny Johnston]

A Clootie Dumplin, the king of Scottish puddings, as my title LDN, Lord Donald of Newmilns demonstrates I request nay demand that an ootside slice be forwarded to me forthwith. LDN.

[Jif]

Yeah, my gran used to put silver thruppences in hers, I wonder now how nobody choked on them. You'd never get away with it these days with health & safety etc but it did add a bit of magic into it, was a thrill when you found one in your slice. Of course we weren't allowed to keep them, they were kept for next years pudding.

Probably not too many made these days, people seem to go for sticky toffee pudding but for me nothing can beat the taste and texture of a good clootie dumpling.

Probably all eaten by the time I'm able to return to Gartcosh Donny, but you'd be welcome to a slice if I still have some left, (unlikely ).