I am another step closer to my inevitable demise...

Or not, as the case may be, because my life span is elastic, rather than fixed. After all, if I live healthily, eat properly and get enough exercise, I could live for another, well, who know, number of years beyond what might otherwise be the case. But I digress.

Yes, it's my birthday, which makes me... well, actually, it doesn't matter that much, as I increasingly feel disconnected from my chronological age and am puzzled by my emotional age - still somewhat less than the actual figure. Ah, I've digressed again...

Anyway, what to do on a birthday in mid-November? I wasn't certain, to be honest, so rather left it to the day itself to reach a conclusion. Spontaneity, that's the thing. And so, on waking up this morning, I looked out of the window at the blue sky and thought, seaside, that'll be nice. Not just any seaside of course, proper bourgeois seaside, as supplied by Southwold or, as I lovingly refer to it, Notting Hill-sur-Mer.

It is, I admit, charming, with a pier with good coffee, shops with interesting things in them and a quirky, Heath Robinson-esque clock which puts on a display on the hour and half-hour. And, as it turned out, we weren't the only ones who had drawn the conclusion that, on a sunny day, Southwold is a good place to be.

Having explored the pier, we took a stroll along the seafront, with its vast array of brightly coloured beach huts, towards Sizewell B which stands in the mist some six miles or so south of town, before wandering into town in search of lunch. Any suggestion that this might be a supposedly typical English seaside resort might be scotched by our lunch, venison and beef hotpot, with potato dumplings and freshly baked bread for Ros, Blythburgh belly pork with savoy cabbage and garlic mash for me. It is, as I say, a bit middle-class.

Southwold is also home to the Sole Bay Brewery, home of Adnams, and their 'Cellar and Kitchen' store has all sorts of good things - award-winning gin, cordials, kitchen stuff and vast amounts of beer. We stocked up on gifts and headed back to the seafront for more exercise, stopping only to buy me a hat (I did rather need one).

Back at the pier, we purchased a doorstop in the form of a polkadot pig and a moneybox in the form of a beach hut - it even has a seagull on it - before heading for home.

All in all, a nice day out, and a splendid way to spend a birthday...