WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT…

...you could find a Blip in a Garden Centre with so much green?

Before we started on our food shopping, we decided to go to a local Garden Centre, which was on the way to Aldi at Royal Wootton Bassett, so that we could find a plant for our lovely friend, Louise.  I had just got out of the car, when who should come bounding up to me - you guessed it - our lovely friend, Louise!

I hope she didn’t see the dismay on my face as we hugged - well if she did, she was gracious enough not to mention it - sorry Louise - we really were thrilled to see you - I know she reads my Blips, so grovel, grovel, grovel!! ;-)

Louise had just taken her daughter, M, to school and had called into the Garden Centre to have a mooch round before collecting M, who leaves school at 11 o’clock on a Wednesday, because she is not too well at the moment.  However, that was the least of our worries.

We were going into the café so Louise joined us, although she already had a drink - when I was told by a rather unhappy man behind the counter that it was “Cash only” as their card machine had “gone down”.  I knew I had a £5 note in my bag and I scrabbled around and found another £1 coin but was told in a rather surly manner that it was £6.90 in total - when I said I only had £6 his response was “Well you can’t have it then, can you!”

I was a bit miffed, but when I went back to the table where Mr HCB and Louise were sitting and relayed this to them, they both said that they didn’t have any cash either.  Thankfully, there were two young Mums at a nearby table and when she heard us chatting, one of them leaned over and asked how much I needed.  When I told her 90p she got £1 out of her purse and gave it to me - what a star and of course, I then blessed her and her friend with a little wooden heart!

I then went back to the grumpy cashier and told him that I had enough money, so he then made our two cups of coffee, but not before grumbling again.  I said I realised it wasn’t his fault that the machine had “gone down” but I would have thought if he insists on cash from everyone, they would lose quite a lot of business today, because not many of us carry cash - although I am reliably informed that more people are using cash these days so that they can see where their money is going.  

We sat for an hour and put the world to rights and then had a wander around together.  I decided to ask Louise what sort of plant she would like and when she told us, went to have a look at the Bonsai trees - but there was nothing there that took her eye - so that idea didn’t work!

After about 20 minutes, Louise had to leave so Mr. HCB and I had another wander around and managed to find something else - just hope she likes it!

Whilst wandering we found this scene with a donkey, sheep and two deer, together with a Christmas tree and a baby - white - in a manger, so I played around with it in PhotoRoom and this is the result.  The theme for today is green - so the grass is green and so is the frame, so hope this will pass muster for the Wide Wednesday challenge today!

You might be interested to know that as we are invited to go to the Kidzone Nativity on Sunday morning dressed in keeping with the Nativity, so Mr. HCB is going as a shepherd and I am going as a donkey - no rude comments please - I have already been upset once today!!

Now for the good news - my new electric throw arrived yesterday, so well done Dreamland - Gold Star to you and especially to Julia, the young lady I dealt with on the phone on Monday.

And even more good news - Mr. HCB saw his GP yesterday and she said there is nothing to worry about - he does have a small issue with his heart, but nothing to worry about at the moment.  He is to go back if he has any breathlessness or feels dizzy, so that's great.  

This is the good news entry today - so even more - I spoke to MarionB, a lovely Blip friend who lives in Canada, and who had a serious accident a few months ago.  I have been sending her a card every week to cheer her up and she suddenly realised that we could communicate on Whatsapp, so early evening for me and early afternoon for her, through the power of the internet and the wonders of technology, we spoke for an hour - and what a pleasure it was.  I think the airwaves will be buzzing in the next few weeks - I managed to take a screenshot and have put it in as an extra - isn’t technology wonderful when it works well?  

P.S.  Just managed to upload my main shot and the extra - it has been a nightmare trying to upload and I have to go out soon to practise for Sunday night's Carols by Candlelight service!


P.P.S.  This is hilarious - Louise has just read my Blip and said she was at the Garden Centre thinking she would buy me another orchid, as long it was different to the one she had already bought me - ha ha ha ha!!