HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. HCB!

There was a heavy frost overnight, but Mr. HCB said he would like to go to a local park to see the cherry blossom, so that was the plan.  However, a friend who lives near the park said that the cherry blossom wasn’t out yet, but she would let us know when it was.  This rather threw our plans into disarray, but as we were up and ready, decided to go for a walk along our favourite track, apparently known as Vize Lane, near Winterbourne Bassett, a little village on the road to Avebury.

We already had warm clothes on, because we guessed it would be rather chilly before 10 o’clock in the morning, but as we were going to be walking and it was quite open, we put hats, scarves and gloves into the car too, and were glad we did.  

When we arrived at our parking place, someone turned up on a motorbike, parking quite close to us and then a minibus turned up.  There wasn’t much room between our car and the minibus, so we asked how long they were stopping just in case a farm vehicle needed to get through.  The lady who was driving said they wouldn’t be leaving the vehicle, as they were marshals for a groups of teenage lads from Ridgeway School at Wroughton who were doing a rehearsal for their Duke of Edinburgh Award so they were just there to help out if anyone was injured.  The groups had been walking from Salthrop to Broad Hinton then going on to Cherhill, so they hoped the lads would be passing by this particular checkpoint quite soon.  

We took our leave of them continued on our walk;  we were so glad to be wearing our warm gear as it was bitterly cold with the wind in our faces, although it was quite sunny.  We met several groups of lads, all of whom passed the time of day with us, physically distanced, of course, so we encouraged them and said it wasn’t much further until their check point and they all said they were glad about that.

When one group came along, again we passed the time of day with them and then I asked if they would do me a huge favour - and they all nodded and asked what it was.   I told them it was Mr. HCB’s birthday, so asked if they would sing “Happy Birthday”to him!  Well, you know me, what you don’t ask for, you don’t get!  They were all fantastic and sang with great gusto;  in one of the shots, you can see Mr. HCB conducting them - again making sure we were all physically distanced.  What a great bunch of lads and it made our day - not sure if it made theirs, but I was impressed that they sang.  

I decided to make a collage - how could I do an abstract on Mr. HCB’s birthday?  The top left shot is the new jigsaw puzzle I bought for him, which I thought typified him, with a house and garden full of vegetables.  The middle photograph on the right shows a large Sarsen stone by the side of the road, on a fairly high bank, and I rather liked the daffodils in front of it.  Apparently, there is a stone circle nearby - something we need to investigate on our next walk along the byway.

Hopefully, our older son will be coming over to visit later and we are having a physically distanced afternoon tea with our neighbours at 4 p.m.  So “Happy Birthday” to my lovely husband, who didn’t grumble once when his photograph was taken - and come to think of it, never even asked what fee I would be paying him today.  Of course, as it’s his birthday, I will pay him double what I normally do! Ha ha!

This quote made Mr. HCB laugh - and me too!

“The older you get the better you get, 
     unless you are a banana.” 
Betty White