Do you remember our trip to Scotland which had to be abandoned because of the snow? It was part of Mr Osc's big birthday celebrations, although the birthday itself is not until October. We got refunds for everything except the hotel, which was the largest amount of money. SIL had booked it through one of those hotel booking agencies (don't know why he didn't book direct with the hotel although he thought he had ) and they were not giving a refund. The hotel initially agreed to "park" the money if we used it before the end of March, which just wasn't feasible. They had not reckoned on Miss Osc being like a dog with a bone, going backwards and forwards between the agency and the hotel. The agency kept blaming the hotel, but the hotel had not even heard from the agency. In the end, thanks to Miss Osc's persistence, the agency gave her compensation of €250 and the hotel agreed to allow us to use the money to rebook.
So she and I consulted on dates while SIL checked availabilty on the golf, with the result that we are going in October! We kept it all secret from Mr Osc and finally told him yesterday. He is really thrilled, he even got a little bit emotional and rather impressed that I had not let it slip. Even better, it is the week before his birthday so will start off the celebrations properly.