HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTYN!

I know that many of you who have celebrated “physically-distanced meetings”  with your children on their birthday will understand how we felt today not being to hug our son, Martyn, on his “Just short of Half a Century” birthday today.

Not being able to get out, I spent yesterday morning making flapjacks and brownies and put them into a box to give him as his birthday gift.  I also made a card, having sorted out many photographs of him, taken over the years many of them not on a digital camera - technology makes it so much easier these days.  

It seemed really strange when he and his wife, Dawn, arrived, to be so far apart, but we still had a good time.  Sadly, the warm weather has deserted us so we sat underneath the carport, instead of in the garden in the sunshine, and just chatted.  It was quite cold because the wind has now changed to the north so I’m sure you all know the rhyme “The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow…..” and it felt cold enough to snow too!

We had a cuppa and a piece of cake but it was too windy to even think about lighting the candles outside, so I lit them in the kitchen and then Martyn came to the back door, picked up the plate, while I stood back and blew them out, before the wind did it for him, and of course, I had to take the obligatory photograph. 

We had a pleasant hour with them and the reason for the laughter in the bottom right photograph is that I had covered the box of cakes with a sheet of paper printed the same as his card - and he has just asked me “Do you want me to save the paper?”  It is a standing joke in our family, especially at Christmas, because while everyone else just screws up the paper that their gifts have been wrapped in, I am quite eco-friendly and always save the paper even asking everyone else to do the same and give it to me so that I can re-use it!

It was good to see Martyn and Dawn - I have put in one of my favourite shots of him and his brother, Julian, since he is far away in Vietnam - shame he couldn’t be with us but I have no doubt he raised a glass or two to his brother and in much warmer weather too.  Let’s  hope that we will be able to celebrate his “Half Century” birthday next year in style.

I know that Martyn is a fan of Terry Pratchett, so I have chosen this quote especially for him today : Happy Birthday, Martyn - may you always behave responsibly and may you never have varicose veins!   

“I reckon responsible behaviour
     is something to get 
          when you grow older.
Like varicose veins.”
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE 
(28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015)