65 years wed

You find us once again down in Salisbury. We’ve come down for the Platinum anniversary celebrations of The Builder’s parents. 65 years! Quite some achievement.

The anniversary was actually on Friday. They had lots of cards and presents and phone calls. And a card from the Queen! They were very excited about that!

Unfortunately, The Builder and I couldn’t get down for Friday, so we all went out for dinner last night. Well, when I say all, everyone except The Builder’s brother Peter was there. Peter declined to attend, allegedly because they last time they met brother Terry threatened to beat him up. Now, even if Terry had threatened to do this, it is unlikely he would make good the threat in a crowded pub in front of his small but terrier like mother, or, indeed, in front of the rest of us, who could be guaranteed to intervene. In any case, Terry fell off a combine harvester some years ago and completely buggered his back. He is now quite severely impaired in his beating up abilities. Should he be taken by a murderous mood all you would need to do would be to step out the way. So. An unlikely reason for non-attendance. It is generally (but perhaps unfoundedly) assumed that his occasional girlfriend forbad him to come. Oh well. His loss. The rest of us had a very merry time. Terry and Jen were there. Marie and Tim were there, having off-loaded the boys onto Tim’s mum. Barb was also there, having maintained her relationship with Gwen and Mick despite her divorce from The Builder. We were there. So, of course, were Gwen and Mick.

And very merry it was too. We ate good food and drank beer or wine or soft drinks. I managed three courses! So too did Mick and Gwen, by the judicious means of not finishing their main course. It was good to catch up with everyone, and for me to meet Jen for the first time. And after a celebratory and cheerful few hours, we took Gwen and Mick home again and returned to Bridge farm at Britford where we are, this time, staying in the B&B.

It’s been a good find, has the Bridge Farm complex. The stables for longer stays and The B&B for short ones. It’s not that expensive, certainly in the winter. The service we got was amazing. Norma made us a tray of tea when we arrived. Another tray of tea was delivered to our door at 07:00 on Sunday. Our breakfast was amazing, served in an old style Farmhouse kitchen-style dining room. The mushrooms were beautifully cooked. The bacon was tasty and not salty. The eggs were crisp around the edges. The bread was from a fresh loaf, hand sliced. And it was hugely plentiful! We might make Bridge Farm our Salisbury base for future visits.

Had a good trip home, despite the ongoing rain. Stopped near Birmingham for a trundle around Webbs’ Garden Centre. Not that it is, really, a garden centre. It is also a food hall and a gift shop and a craft shop and all sorts. In fact, we didn’t really look properly at the garden bit, it being seriously wet outside. Had a good mooch around in the food hall though!

It was an awful shock last week, having to return to 05:30 getting up times, though I am at least developing the habit of going to bed at 10:00 to go to sleep, rather than sleeping in m’chair! However, the need for such truly early starts may be about to end. The Builder has been told that the job, which started last July for a few weeks, is finally going to finish on Wednesday. He will start casting about for something else, though he has a few little jobs to do for friends and acquaintances, plus there are, of course, the small matters of the allotment and the kitchen garden demanding attention. But even so, we can’t stay abed too late. I still need to leave to catch the 07:04 bus in the mornings. Perhaps we won the lottery last night! (We didn’t!)

The farm shop didn’t have any seedy granola or muesli :-( I might have to start making my own!