So we had a party...

 

We are having a week of parties and celebrations for Mr Bufo's 90 birthday on 20th. We started on Sunday with lunch for 23 of us who are family

Then more friends and neighbours joined us for tea, when the cake appeared.

But today a mysterious bunch of flowers was delivered, with a card thanking us, but no name! So thank you, whoever you are, 

from us both!

UPDATE - mystery solved and sender thanked in person.

We are having lunch out tomorrow, just the 2 of us, in the new Turkish restaurant, on the Day itself, and another family lunch on Friday - with another cake!

Heatwaves and holes in the ground

 

It's been too hot and sticky to think, let alone do any work, or very much crochet! Thankfully it has rained today, which makes it a little cooler, though I gather it has been torrential further east.

Not long ago, a hole appeared in the pavement outside our front wall. We knew our drainpipe to the main sewer was right underneath it, and there have been a few occasions when the drain has backed up, but that had been OK for a couple of months - and then suddenly the sinkhole.  

We didn't do anything immediately because of several recent blips with Mr Bufo's health, but on a recent Tuesday I spent what seemed like forever on a 'webchat' to Southern Water, including needing to send them a photo of the hole, which at least meant they gave us a 'job number' and said they would send someone within 72 hours. By 3pm that afternoon, someone had actually arrived, and did a bit of investigation down our manhole in the front garden. He put in a report and said someone would come the next day. 

So on Wednesday morning someone came and spent a while digging and not seeing anything, so he said someone would come with a camera the next day, as he couldn't see much wrong, and left a hole which he put barriers round. 

So on Thursday 2 blokes turned up and did a bit more digging. They eventually found the problem just under the front wall, where their pipe had slipped below our outlet - so our front garden had been getting a lot of extra fertilisation - but thankfully they 'owned' it rather than saying it was our problem, and replaced the faulty pipe, then someone came and started filling it all up, so the barriered area was smaller, and finally on the Friday another gang came along and tarmac-ed over the top. 

All very Flanders and Swann. 

I have nearly finished the second of two blankets for the granddaughters. This is the first, but the second has a slightly different arrangement of motifs, and a completely different border. If it cools off a bit I will get the second one finished soon, and you might even get a new post to celebrate the fact!

We Spring Forward

 

Spring seems to be here, and April is just around he corner We shall soon be making our regular spring visit to Somerset and Cleeve Abbey, and in the meantime the blackthorn on the corner of the road on the way to the paper shop is in full bloom again.

Last night the clocks went forward into Summer Time, so we look forward to brighter evenings and hope for a pleasant summer that isn't too hot - or too wet!

As the Days Lengthen

We are nearly at the end of January, and 1st February is the date that Miss Read tells us is the first time of the year that you can go for a walk after tea. Tea in this instance is 'four o'clock afternoon tea', not tea meaning dinner or supper. So as we are now out of the darkest 10 weeks of the winter, it is time to supersede the Shortest Day post and look forward to spring.

My snowdrops are not quite out yet, so here's a photo from February a few years ago - I'm sure they will be flowering before this post gets replaced! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Wishing you all the very best for the season! This picture was on the front of our Christmas card, It was taken at the Luttrell Arms Hotel in the autumn.

The photo at the very end of this post was inside our card, It was taken in our own garden.

This year our chosen charity in lieu of buying commercial cards is MDS UK - the support group for the condition that Mr Bufo has been diagnosed with.

Each year, and every year, I thank Susan Cooper for this poem:

The Shortest Day – Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen,

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive.

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, revelling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing, behind us — listen!

All the long echoes sing the same delight

This shortest day

As promise wakens in the sleeping land.

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year, and every year.

Welcome Yule!

How We Were Chuffed on Wednesday

You may remember that last year we had a steam train ride to Kingswear with Saphos Trains. We enjoyed it so much we booked again this year to go to Shrewsbury. It was an earlier start, as it is further to go, but we were at Romsey station in good time to catch the train at 6.50 a.m. The plan was for a diesel to take us to Bristol, where we would meet a steam locomotive to take us on to Shrewsbury and back.

We had a morning snack box, as before, though we didn't think there was quite the variety as last year's. 

But the coffee was fine, and 

the fizz, which arrived soon afterwards, was 'Pink Lady Pear Cider' - which I would call perry, but that's what the label said. Some people were disappointed that they weren't getting bucks fizz, but that didn't worry us. 

When we got to Bristol, it turned out that the steam engine, which we were supposed to meet there, was stuck at Taunton, on the far side of an 'incident', and not expected to get through in time to take us up to Shrewsbury. So the plan was changed, so that the diesel that had been on the back of the train (at Bristol you change direction) would take us up to Shrewsbury, and if the steamer could get through in time, it would meet us there, to bring us back.

All the way up to Shrewsbury there were photographers waiting for the train, and we wondered if they had known that we wouldn't have the steam engine on, or that it might be worthwhile waiting around until the engine came through later. We therefore arrived in Shrewsbury about an hour earlier that originally planned, so had longer there than scheduled.

We had a pleasant wander round, and a cool drink in a cafe with an outdoor area overlooking the river.

Then we made our way back to the station, and sat around for a bit until the steam engine arrived (see main picture for unobstructed view)

We had ordered an afternoon tea, and when we we finally able to board the train, after several others (going to various places in Wales, Birmingham, and Manchester) had gone through our platform, we found the stand set up at our table with two little jars of strawberry jam all ready.

Later we were brought a selection of sandwiches - here are Mr Bufo's

and these were mine. They had taken proper note of my food intolerances, which was nice

Along came some sparkling English wine - which wasn't wonderful, but not too awful, and we shared one can and brought the other home, and there was tea and coffee ad lib.

And then the cakes arrived 

And the cream, swiftly followed by the scones - although there was only one each, and they were fruit ones, which I never feel are correct with jam and cream.

We thought it was a bit off that we didn't get an afternoon snack box this year - we had paid (or rather it was paid by Mr B's elder daughter as a birthday present) quite a lot extra for the tea, and if we hadn't done so we'd have had the snack box as everyone else did. We had thought the tea was an extra, rather than instead.

But all in all it was a very pleasant day out, and we'll be looking to see where they might be running one next year that we can get to.

75 - How did that happen?

Having reached such a venerable age(!) I thought a family party would be fun, so 40 or so family, including 10 children, plus 3 friends, gathered at the Field Restaurant at Udder Farm for a spread. 

The children could play outside as it was a beautiful day, and we had a section of the restaurant partitioned off so the rest of us could mingle and chat.

It was lovely to see cousins from both sides of the family, and I think a good time was had by all. No photos of the children here of course, though some were taken and will be sent to their parents.

Mr Bufo and I felt very pleased with the day!