Birthdays special

A week or so ago, a birthday special for two family members, an occasion marked by slow roast leg of lamb, served with haricot beans, as advertised at reference 6. And greens, and rice, as I recall.

Further marked by a discrete display across the top of the garage bi-fold.

Discrete, but fully Heath-Robinson'd, as can be seen from the snap above, the idea being to reduce the flapping brought on by the light breeze. Which worked well enough, but not so well as to stop it shearing across the first 'p' of happy before the close of play. Not fatal though; it could be mended.

Proceedings lubricated with a spot of No.1 2022 Valpolicella Ripasso, from Waitrose. On which, an unsolicited comment from Copilot started: 'Valpolicella Ripasso is a red wine from the Veneto region of Northern Italy, produced using the Ripasso method, where young Valpolicella wine is re-fermented on the leftover Amarone grape skins. This technique enhances body, flavor, and complexity while retaining the freshness of traditional Valpolicella...'. Not sure that I did not prefer the days when AI assistants did not speak until spoken to, the mode in which I still use Gemini, at least most of the time. In any event, made for Waitrose by the people at reference 7. Or, as it says on the bottle: 'We have crafted this exclusive wine with the historic and prestigious Fratelli Recchia winery'. Busy chap, the wine buyer from Waitrose. Maybe he gets to go on jollies to Italy and other exciting places - or is Waitrose so important that they have to come to him? To be treated to a spot of English Breakfast in the cafeteria in the basement?

Unusually engrossed in conversation - or perhaps eating - I forget to make a telephonic record of the leg of lamb with all its trimmings, which skips to the dessert. From where I associate to the vagaries of reference 8. Can't get the paper keepers these days, even if you inflate their job titles to record keepers. From where I further associate to the paper keepers of the Free State, noticed at reference 9. I am pleased to say that I can still put my hand on the book itself: I may even read it again later.

At least the steel - probably sourced from a car boot sale at Hook Road Arena - is still there by way of evidence of the main course.

It was also an outing for one of our two trestle tables.

After dessert, there was something of a dividing of the ways. Part of the party was engrossed in the affairs of one Dazzle, a pony from the people at reference 4. The other part moved onto pillow construction using a travelling sewing kit sourced at a garage sale in Brading on the Isle of Wight. The sort of thing that every careful housewife used to take on holiday, just in case. Some of the better chain hotels offer very cut-down versions, also just in case.

I was intrigued to find that the people selling the ponies - along with various bits and bobs for real horses, held a warrant from our King, snapped from reference 2 below. One each, although I might say that the list for our King is a good deal longer than that for our Queen. I don't think minor royals get them at all. The list itself is to be found at reference 3. I dare say there is a master list lurking somewhere in the Royal Household proper, but I have not managed to get sight of that.

But I learn that it a serious offence for a trader - these warrants are about trade - to claim a warrant when he has not got one. For some background, go to reference 1. For the ponies themselves, I think John Lewis will do.

I wonder if, as the Prince of Wales, he awarded one to himself for the Duchy Originals range: the cunning wheeze whereby he sold the use of his name to enterprising manufacturers of food products - sausages, marmalade and stuff like that; the ultimate meeting point of royals with trade. Would Queen Victoria have approved?

At 17:00 the downstairs thermometer was still reading 80°F, despite there being talk of the possibility of rain. Talk corroborated by the scene outside, snapped above - not that it came to much, if anything.

PS: the record did resume with the left-overs the following day, with pride of place going to the stewed celery. Plus butter, onions, carrots, some left over potatoes and a little water. Less than an hour start to finish.

On the plate.

There was also some rather fine damson mousse, although I failed to arrange it properly for its snap. Perhaps I ought to suggest the dish to the Estrela in Vauxhall, people who actually make their own desserts, or at least some of them.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_royal_warrant_holders_of_the_British_royal_family.

Reference 2: https://www.royalwarrant.org/.

Reference 3: https://www.royalwarrant.org/media/2986/download?inline=. What appears to be the authoritative list, as of today..

Reference 4: https://www.lemieux.com/. Gemini says: 'The British equestrian and lifestyle brand LeMieux is owned by its founders, Robert and Lisa Lemieux, alongside the private equity firm LDC (lLloyds Development Capita)'. Horsey people.

Reference 5: https://www.ldc.co.uk/. Who presumably provide a bit of help with the cash needed to grow.

Reference 6: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-tale-of-two-beans.html.

Reference 7: https://www.recchiavini.it/.

Reference 8: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/08/legal-eagles.html.

Reference 9: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-paperkeepers-tale.html.

Reference 10: https://stx-uk.com/lemieux/. STX look to be into the sort of high end horse boxes that event riders might use. There is clearly some tie in with Lemieux, as you can read all about them here.