Geburtstag

Me, Becky and Hannah in Cargo Bar

Despite suggestions that I blog about being misunderstood by an NHS telephone-machine today, I have decided to tell you a little about my birthday, which was last Friday. It was made extra-special by the fact that I happen to share it with one of my Swiss housemates.

Friday was a normal day for most of it, though work seemed to go quicker with the thoughts of the New Year's Apéro from 5pm. Once I had drank a few glasses of what turned out to be rather expensive white wine, the English department took me for an après-Apéro in Bar Rouge, which is at the top of the Conference Tower in Basel and had views across the twinkling, night-time city.

Afterwards I headed back to the flat, where enough cannelloni and wine had been produced to feed an army. We sat down, ate, laughed and drank until four in the morning. Even better, the other nine guests at the table conversed in Swiss. I could understand almost all of it.

The next day I woke up feeling slightly worse for wear, but soon recovered, because Becky and Hannah, two of the other assistants, came to visit in the evening. We had some bubbles in my flat before heading to Vapiano (where else?) for pizza and wine, then d'Bar and Cargo Bar for cocktails and beer and general merriment, also ending at four in the morning after a long walk back over the Rhine from Klein Basel.

I had a really great weekend, even if I wasn't in the best of moods to go to work this morning...