Each December I take those of my nearest and dearest who have helped me throughout the year to Cardiff and treat them to a steak dinner, with perchance a bottle of wine and a cocktail or two. The day tends to involve a fair amount of beer and a visit to Winter Wonderland.
This year the guests were my brother (for the invaluable assistance he provides in IT-related matters), my elder daughter (for being my design consultant and managing my Instagram account), and my wife (for putting up with me). If I can get my younger daughter involved in some capacity or other, next year’s party might be a full family affair.
My wife, daughter and I travelled up to Cardiff to meet my brother in Waterstones. A book shop makes a great place to meet up because, well, books. Then it was off to find a relatively quiet pub, not so easy in the centre of Cardiff on a Friday in December. We were lucky, after only a few false starts managing to find a pub with available seats, no queues at the bar and no loud music blasting. A few relaxed beers later and we made our way to this year’s venue, Steak of the Art. Suffice it to say, good steaks, wine and a few cocktails were dispatched with practised ease. Say what you like about my family, but we’re dab hands at packing away food and drink.
My younger daughter and her boyfriend were in town Christmas shopping so we met up with them after we’d left the restaurant. Sadly, the gusting wind and frequent prolonged showers meant we had to skip Winter Wonderland this year. Never mind—there’s always beer.
And so we indulged; perhaps it would be more accurate to say over-indulged, but fun was had by all and I felt I had gone a little way towards repaying the help they have given me throughout the year. Thanks, guys—luvs ya!
Here are some photos from previous year’s parties that were posted on my old site.
From 2017
From 2016
From the inaugural office party in 2015
Hello, Sam.
This may not be the best channel for writing you, but I want to thank you for writing a short story called “Coming Home” which was included in an anthology of One Hundred and One Short Stories. I recently dictated it paragraph by paragraph to a young Venezuelan student who is learning English as a second language.
Keep up the good work of writing good stories from a good heart.
Ambrosio
Hey, Ambrosio
Thank you so much for getting in touch. That’s lovely to hear – I hope your student is progressing well with his or her studies. English isn’t the easiest of languages to learn, I understand.
All best wishes to you both,
Sam