Tuesday means a return to the wonderful La Catidral.   My Turkish friends from the previous week, Aylin, Aislé, Selen, and Selen’s husband,  kindly host me among their group.

Occasionally I brave the dancefloor,  to find a willing victim, (I mean partner)  and dance my unique, shufflling version of the Tango.

Back at the table we talk and discuss the world.   Aisli,  pronounced Aislé or Ais-ley”,  tells me she plans to return to India next year to practice her Yoga.   (She teaches Yoga, when she is not being an architect)

Her first trip to India a few years back was cut short when she had to return home to Istanbul.     Her dog was very old and he took a turn for the worse after her initial departure.   She felt she had to fly back from India after just a week, to say goodbye before he died.

I find this very beautiful.

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Wednesday.

Today, this Wednesday,  is the 29th of February.   This date of course, can only happen once every 4 years,  on a Leap Year.  Back in Ireland therefore, it’s a rare, rare birthday for Richard Tottenham.   Richard is the father of my friends Mark and Phillip.  He is like the male lead character in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance,  who can not inherit until he has had his 21st birthday,  at which stage he will in fact really be well past eighty years old.   Fortunately Richard Tottenham, did not to my knowledge have to suffer any such eccentric conditions attached to his inheritance.

The 29th of February is of course the rarest of possible birthdays to have.  The chances, according to my shaky mathematics,  must be something like 1,300/1.

Richard must be nearly twenty at this stage.

Happy Birthday, Richard Tottenham.

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