i am thir...

I declare today to be my Birthday Day.

Now, some people would argue, chronologically speaking, that this day back in July might have something to do with it as well, perhaps. But I've got a new rule. Your Birthday Day has got to be a fun day. This rule I like. It has longevity potential.

Back when we were all kids, we employed the rule too, after a fashion. In those days, you knew when your Birthday Day was, because it was fixed, and on that day you reigned supreme. It was an unwritten requirement that events must transpire to your satisfaction, that usually forbidden indulgences should become the staple diet, and preferably that masses of friends assemble to be audience to an event orchestrated just for you.

As we have, er, aged, things perhaps start to turn. There is school, which answers to no birthday. This is the first erosion. No longer are all tolerances extended in all contexts. We shrink our demands, localise our sphere of demanded birthday-influence. Parents will indulge, teachers will not. Later, teachers are replaced by employers, while Freud tells us we internalise those parents. So we know we should indulge ourselves. Perhaps we take leave from work. (Perhaps we go skydiving.) Perhaps it is a day as usual. Who wants to make a fuss of themselves?

My (chronological) birthday fell on a Saturday this year, a promising start somewhat undermined by all the worries associated with Bronwyn being in hospital. We cancelled the bbq... we cancelled the birthday. “I'm staying twenty-mumble", I told people. It wasn't my greatest birthday. (Though this was a good present, soon after.)

So today Bronwyn and I went to Rye Meads, an RSPB wildlife centre north of London. It was a perfect opportunity to put to use my birthday gift from Bronwyn, my first pair of binoculars, a late arrival once we'd sorted out exactly what I wanted. And they are excellent. ("Buy quality and it will last.” Humphrey Babbage, Esq.) We saw 20 species of birds today, including hoped-for Kingfishers and three other species of birds we'd never seen before. It was sunny and 25 degrees. We hung around, out in nature, just spending the day together.

Today was a great day. So I've decided, today is my Birthday Day. Today I have finally celebrated my birthday. So rather than the old way—demanding that things go my way on the chronological day—from this year on no day takes historical precedence. Instead, a day becomes my Birthday Day by deserving the title. And each year that'll be the day I get a year older.

So now, for the first time, I will say it...
I am 30.

[Please note that next year presents may be expected on both dates. Ahem.]