The view was looking pretty decent from our "upper p" perch as we mused about the world. The conversation rarely lifted above the level of "Oh, look. The cows in that field have moved a bit." 
What a jolly gentle aprés-midi it was as we slowly brought ourselves into a state of readiness for the evening's continuation of birthdayisms. We were joined at varying intervals by Dozybean, YarMatt and Intoeverythingsworth all of whom also hugely enjoyed the previous night's Gigspanner appearance, but none of whom were daft enough to stay up until dawn.
Soon enough, the appointed hour for heading to Auntie Shazzerooneypoos' residence arrived, and up the hill we trogged for a birthday barbecue on the decking.What can I say? Just about everyone who is anyone was there, chomping burgers and sausages in sufficient quantities to keep Dong slaving over a hot barbie (now there's an image) for three hours before he was allowed to sit down and slurp wine with the rest of us.
Cap'n Sump had kindly sourced a polypin of Dartmoor IPA, a few pints of which went down very well with yours truly before I switched to wine on the grounds of sheer volume of liquid. It might have been a bit cloudy due to insufficient time to settle, but it tasted mighty fine. Thanks for your efforts, Cap'n.
Most people who visit these pages have a pretty good idea who's who as regards those who put in a fairly frequent appearance; but this "do" saw a few not-so-frequent blogstars on display. Here's a just a few shots of the evening (and more witterings thereafter):
Not because he's an infrequent blogstar, but because he's about to become so. Here's J Edgar's last appearance before being inducted into the Navy's famous regime of rum, sodomy and the lash. Not sure which bit of that he's most looking forward to.
Secondly, Harry Harris managed to peel himself from one of Millbrook's bars. And jolly nice to see him by daylight it was, too.
Facing the camera over the heads of BathNick and The High Lord of Southwick are John M. and his youngster Daisy.
Penultimately in this short series, we have La Sumpetta's sister Val and the very snuggly (apparently) Big Bob; Val here kindly offers possibly the least flattering pose of the evening. Liability Meeson is on the right of the shot.
And finally - a bit of a general shot. See how many you can recognise. 
The temperature started to dip as the sun began to disappear over the hills and warmer cladding was donned by most of the assembled throng, including a certain Millbrooker who had cleverly brought along a hat and a fluffy-lined gilet. I've done this sort of thing before, you know.
The sunset was a cracker; those of us still standing (and there were quite a few) spent a happy while simply watching Helios descend from his perch.
As midnight approached, Dong and Shazzerooneypoos produced their traditional bit of magic in the shape of Chinese lanterns to be sent skywards with wishes. In this case Dong took the opportunity to release a pair of lanterns to wave his birthday farewell and welcome in the shared birthday of La Sumpetta and Mrs The Millbrooker which was just beginning.
And so ended another great day in The Long Celebration. Huge thanks go to Shazzerooneypoos for hosting and working like a Trojan to make sure everyone had fun and to Dong for his excellent meat carbonising skills early in the evening and his gracious handing over of the birthday honours at midnight.There's still Volume V to go, mind....
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