MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

Strange how often a day turns out very differently from the one you had imagined!  Today was that sort of day.  Originally we had planned to go to Bath on the train, but the weather wasn’t that good, so we decided that to be wandering around in the rain wasn’t quite what we wanted.  

I took several photographs of birds in the garden and the rain still came down, so at about 11 o’clock, Mr. HCB said that he was taking me out but wouldn’t tell me where we were going.  He said it would be a Magical Mystery Tour - at that point, neither of us knew quite how magical it was going to be!   

We went through Devizes and In a Wiltshire village named Littleton Pannell, we stopped when we saw a thatcher working.  I got out of the car and explained about Blipping each day and he said he was happy for me to take photographs.  I had never seen a thatcher at work before, and he was happy to explain what he did.  He told me his name was Will Barter and said he was never short of work.  He said this job would take about nine weeks but he was booked up for at least the next year.  He did, however, say that it was very hard on the knees and arms!

Then I was surprised because we were soon on the road towards Salisbury - and didn’t have a clue where we were heading - it really was a mystery tour!

All was revealed about half an hour later when we arrived at Cholderton Farm Shop, a little café we often used to stop at when we were coming home from Boscombe.  It was lovely to see Kate and James again and to hear of their wedding plans for December - we hadn’t see them for over a year, so it was good to catch up - and of course we had lunch and very nice it was too.

I wandered off and took some photographs of the Barbu D’uccle bantams and the cockerels and was quite happy with them - until I saw that further up, in a large barn, two men were shearing sheep.  I watched for a while then spoke to one of the men, called Mike, and again, explained that I took a photograph every day and was always looking for something interesting.  He said that he originally came from New Zealand but had been in this country for over 20 years, but amazingly, he still had his NZ accent!  If you want to see more about him, have a look at his website here.

With that, he opened the large gate and invited me in and said that he would show me something that I wouldn’t see very often - and proceeded to get out a large pair of blades and sharpened them.  He said that he was never one to miss a photo opportunity and was quite happy to blade shear a sheep for me so that I could take photographs.  

He told me that the breed on this particular farm was Hampshire Down, a breed that was established more than 150 years ago - and the fleece was very thick - but it was off in a matter of minutes and the sheep then trotted off to join its friends in a nearby field.

I ran back to the café and got Mr. HCB, then we went back up to see Mike shear a sheep in the “new-fangled” way with electric sheep clippers.   One thing that Mike told us was that he made a modest living, but was happy doing something he loved - we told him we were happily retired and content, especially when we met people like Will, the thatcher, and him, who made our day today. 

What an amazing day - much better than wandering around Bath - and we had such lovely conversations too.  Whoever thinks that being retired is boring should come out with us sometime!

“Refire - don’t retire - 
     an attitude of embracing the years ahead 
          with enthusiasm rather than apathy.” 
Morton Shaevitz,
Refire! Don't Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life


P.S.  I think that Will, the thatcher, fits in well with the WidWed challenge!