Maman's 60th Cavalry club

It all started with a simple pub lunch at the Dove in Hammersmith where the family had gathered to make plans for this special day. I was panicking about time throughout the whole lunch (my inner anxiety was getting the better of me) and I found I could not enjoy the beautiful setting. Even so, I gave Maman her birthday present of two Tim Walker tickets and we had discussed the details of the event which made everyone happy. From there we all went home and that's where I began to struggle a little.

Looking back, it all started because I had invited too many guest to stay in my flat. With one bathroom this was not the brightest move. My flatmate Thomas thought it would be funny to lock himself into my bathroom just when I wanted it, which was very upsetting, especially for someone like me who relies on routine. Although, we both said a few choice words, when Thomas finally realised this was not funny anymore he walked out of the bathroom and I quickly jumped into the bath and forgot about the whole incident.

Sadly, at the time I did not realise that Thomas and my little argument made Alice, my lovely flatmate, uncomfortable and I regretted it as soon as my mother mentioned it to me four days later. As soon as I found out, I said sorry to Alice for making her unhappy and I was grateful that my mother told me what was happening. I appreciate Maman telling me this as it must have been difficult for her to do so. I think that overall it is great that she told me, so that I know in the future not to care too much when someone is pulling a practical joke on me and just to let it all pass calmly.

I now realise that with my Autism I cannot let small things get the better of me and I think having so many people to stay made things unnecessarily stressful for me. I think what I shall do in future is only have one guest at a time to stay in my flat. I also did not know that Zoe was William's guest, and in the future he can look after her, or his own guests. I shall just invite Thomas and only when I know for how many days that he will be staying for.

Even at the time, I remember thinking that this was a learning curve, sent to teach me how to communicate better with others. With this in mind we set off to the club; Thomas and Liam and myself. The women would be getting there later. I was very grateful to have had my carers to travel to the club with as it was a hectic and stressful journey to get to the Cavalry and Guards Club. We started with the 14 bus which stopped at South Kensington Tube station because of the Extinction Rebellion. This meant that everyone had to get off the bus and hundreds of extra people had to take to the underground to get to their final destination.

My stress levels only increased as we got onto the underground because it was crammed full of people. As a result of there being so many people, I had to stand which was bad for my leg pains. We eventually made it to the famous Hard Rock Cafe, which was full of people I did not like. We had the back rooms, as we had rented it out. I did not approve of one drunk person who kept on tripping as he ordered another beer. He was not part of our group thankfully. I was still not feeling in a sociable mood and felt rather cut off from William's friends who were all gathered around another table.

Thomas, Liam and I slunk off to a corner table where I ordered a Diet coke which cost £4! Outrageously expensive!

Eventually we were shepherded to leave the Hard Rock Cafe and we walked to the Cavalry and Guards Club. I was feeling apprehensive about how my friends would feel in the sometimes uptight world of Military Club, but in the end I realised that it didn't matter, as it was not the splendour of the club that matters but the people that we had invited, and being able to talk to them.

I was admittedly excited with all the people that had gathered to celebrate my mother's birthday; to have the descendants of Charles Darwin and the descendants of Churchill all in one room was magical. With hindsight I should have tried to have been less excited and treated it as a normal part of my social life; with a little more grace and a little less haste! In some ways, I think that it is good that I still get excited about meeting famous people, however I shall learn to hide it better in the future.

I liked walking through the room and talking to so many different people. Learning to do small talk is a art in itself and I had rehearsed what I was going to do: I would spend three minutes with each group of people before I would move and I would introduce people to each other.

I was very excited at meeting my godmother for the first time. She is a lovely and kind lady, and we had a great chat about Maman and the Baltic States. I enjoyed talking to her about history and she put me completely at ease.

I loved Maman's 60th birthday and I think it was wonderful that she was able to celebrate with all of the people she cares most about in the world. I have never been so lucky as to have had the best mother in the world. I am also immensely proud to have my mother; she looks after me every day and I could not have asked for a better mother.