A Birthday in Soz (part 1)

This year, as in every year so far, my birthday rolled around on its usual date and I got to add another year to my especially calculated age. Making me three until my next birthday allows me to turn four*.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the time off work, so the day itself was spent counting money in a little back office at the railway station. Ho hum.

The next day, though, involved heading off to Southampton to view the Wizzers of Soz's end of degree exhibition. Oh yes, it's been three years since Wizzers rolled off to Soz to study illustration. And now she's studied it and is going to train as a personal trainer instead.

Dozybean and I travelled together on the iron horse, meeting up with Mrs The Millbrooker at Westbury after she'd spent the night at Milly's place in Bath.

Soon enough we all arrived in Soz and Wizzers guided us to her pad. Some unpacking ensued.

And then we began the weekend as we meant to carry on - food and drink. Huzzah!

Dear old Wetherspoon's provided some lunchtime nourishment and Wizzers provided a second and entirely unexpected birthday present (I'd already had my lovely Ovation guitar from Mrs The Millbrooker and a DanElectro Honeytone micro-amp from the younger generation). It was a delightful pocket watch with an embossed steam train on the lid.

Suitably fortified with pub-lunch fare and a couple of pints, we wandered through Southampton's centre to the exhibition space in a large shopping arcade, where two empty shops had been taken over by the BA students to use as galleries.

I didn't take many shots inside, but here's a taster of Wizzers' work, based on Aesop's fables. You'll need to excuse the angle, getting any shot at all without strip lighting reflecting back from the glass case was a tad difficult.

As I write, a quick glance at my watch tells me I have to abandon this narrative and head off to another few hours wage-slavery. So I'll tell you all about the wondrous Coriander Lounge where we spent the evening another time.

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*I've explained this method before, but for the uninitiated - to ensure you never get older than nine, simply add the digits of your conventional age together and then continue doing so until you reach a  single numeral.

For example: someone might be 48 in conventional terms, but if you add 4 and 8, you get 12. Then you need to add 1 and 2 to get the final result of 3.