I’m 27. Today. It’s my birthday.

I’m 27 today, and I woke up in a cot bed next to my sleeping parents. Like toddler.

We left Kalamata for Athens the day after my sister’s wedding. My parents have been MIA for the past five birthdays; every one since my 21st. For the first couple of years it was my fault for living in London. The following three were missed because the parents leave Melbourne for winter. This year, though, considering my sister was getting married in Greece on July 13, we figured we could spend my birthday together for the first time in six years.

Coz, you know, who parties harder than your 60 year old parents?

After I awoke from my cot, I checked my phone. Because the time difference, birthday messages had been coming through from Australia since midnight; so it was good to wake up to my phone saying I had an abnormally high amount of SMSs waiting. I thought that was an effort until I logged on to Facebook, and felt like an absolute celebrity: around 25 notifications telling me I had about an equal number of wall posts, and five new messages in my inbox. Score.

So yeah, thanks if you posted something or sent a text message! For now, though, I’m gonna get out in the thick of it for the day. Mum “cutely” hinted that there’s a gay bar in the area, though my family is definitely not Queer As Folk-ish enough to go together. Thank God. My Dad would not be able to deal.

It’s my last night in Greece as well – tomorrow I take off for Thailand, which is my last stop before I come home. I’m not planning anything in Bangkok – like, literally nothing except for maybe a couple of massages – so will no doubt have time for a few more blog posts before I fade back into literary apathy.

Missed the reference in the title? Check out the photos of my surprise early birthday party in London on Facebook on this public link