In view of the various parties I'd never had I was looking forward to having a good bash to celebrate becoming 60.

It was not to be. Despite having promised various friends that he was going to spring a surprise 'do' for the occasion, Bear found his best excuse yet and arranged his knee replacement operation for the week before my birthday.

Needless to say, he was in hospital on the day and when I went to see him that morning (it was a Sunday) he threw a card at me and deliberately avoided saying Happy Birthday. I didn't stay long.

In his defence, it should be said that the next day he was completely out of his head, talking about seeing black insects all over the wall and suffering from high blood sugar. (He has type 2 diabetes).

Of course, the nurses didn't know he was gibbering nonsense, and as he took his own sugar levels with his English meter they didn't realise there was a problem.

When I alerted them, his cache of sugary treats was whisked away and he was subjected to loads of tests and a strict diet. As he had been extremely bad about eating sensibly this came as a quite a shock.

Because of this little setback he stayed in hospital for a fortnight instead of the usual ten days so the rest of us had a pleasant 'holiday' from his bad moods.

And the birthday? Well, CC and Jay cooked a lovely meal at home and we celebrated in a relaxed and stressfree atmosphere.

On Saturday I turned 65 and enjoyed a really lovely weekend thanks to family and friends.

With a bit of prodding from CC, Bear bought me the whole set of DVDs for Upstairs Downstairs, but what I  appreciated most of all was the fact that he remained incredibly sweet tempered the whole time!

Yvette invited us for cake and champagne in the afternoon and then Jay cooked a delicious meal of carrot and beetroot soup followed by  cod in provencale sauce and rounded off with the most beautiful chocolate gateau I've ever seen - or tasted - which came from a very good patisserie in town.

Coffee was accompanied by a 25 year old Armagnac - a present from CC and Jay - and then we ALL  played Trivial Pursuits until well after midnight.

Bear won and I came second but we realised that our sets of questions are terribly out of date. We'll have to get some new ones.

As for presents, I've never been so spoilt.  My friend from Athens sent this wonderful display of flowers and Yvette gave me a trinket box, an ornament of a cat and Dewey, by Vicki Myron - the true story of an abandoned kitten who was adopted by the staff at a library - translated into French.

Our friends from the next village gave me some hyacinths nicely arranged in a hanging basket, my neighbour popped in to present me with a cat themed manicure set and matching notepad and pen, Bear's elder daughter sent me some handcream, (she always remembers my birthday - bless her) and, as well as the wonderful armagnac, CC and Jay gave me a CD of Mozart's Horn Concerto.

You'd think that was enough of a celebration wouldn't you, but it continued on Sunday, in a way, because it was the Christmas Repas des Anciens.

When we left at quarter past twelve I was still feeling  very full from the previous evening and rather regretted that I'd accepted the invitation for the meal.

However, once we had arrived and kissed or shaken hands with everyone there was quite a long wait before the meal began.

First came the champagne and nibbles, supplemented by slices of pizza.  The starter was salmon in sorrel sauce, followed by the Trou Normande - sorbet with mirabelle brandy -  and the main course was venison accompanied by apple and cranberries, sprouts and dauphinoises potatoes. Then came cheese (brie) with lettuce and desert consisted of individual raspberry charlottes.

Coffee was served with tarte au sucre, a local confection of round brioches liberally coated with sugar.

This year's entertainment was a couple who, between them, sang and  played accordeon, saxophone and keyboard with a 'canned' accompaniment. It wasn't bad, but they weren't as good as last year's performers and they were far too loud

Bear and I were among the first to leave at about 6 o'clock but no doubt the dancing went on for another hour or so.

I have to say it was the best birthday weekend I've had for many a year but, even today, I'm still feeling incredibly full!