Well, here we are: The 31st August. Today is the day. Today is zero sleeps to Cruising. Today is Debbie’s Birthday. Today for me is also the last day of summer.
Through the winter and spring I have always fed the birds. I get great joy an satisfaction sitting at my kitchen table watching the birds feeding on the numerous feeders I put out for them. Birds include Great Tit’s, Blue Tit’s, Green Finch’s, Robin’s and Blackbird’s. Add to these the plethora of sparrow’s (though what sort I haven’t got a clue) and the entertainment value is high. We’ve had woodpeckers of late which is a special joy. All this takes place out the front of the house. At the back, I feed the ducks, and this is where things get a little tricky. You see, you feed the six ducks that happily make home in your garden and they go and tell all their friends and in less than a fortnight, the number had increased to 35+. In addition to these, a family of moorhens settled in as well plus Philip the Cock Pheasant with his gaggle of 6 Philipa the Hen Pheasants. They can get a bit noisy if you don’t feed them in time but as soon as the food arrives all calms down and every bodies happy.
But, then we had a family of Magpies move in; Then we had a family of Jackdaws move: Then we had a family of Crows move in. And by the way, they all fond the food at the front as well that was intended for the Small birds. Still, Spring came and then came Summer and they all disappeared: Don’t know where but they all vanished. And so I vowed to hold back on the feeding in the future.
But today, Debbie’s Birthday, Philip the Cock Pheasant appeared as did 6 Ducks. The ducks hung around outside the kitchen door looking at me as if to say, ‘well, where’s my dinner’. I want to feed them but I don’t want to feed all of the Berkshire Feathered inhabitants again.
In the meantime however, I have Debbie’s Birthday to manage so the birds will have a to wait just a few more days. Anyway, they can eat the apples from the trees while I’m away so I know they wont go hungry. As I said, today is Debbie’s Birthday and part, or most, of her present is a five night cruise To Rouen, St Peter Port and St Malo for Her and myself plus her youngest boy, Master Nicholas. What she doesn’t know, or didn’t know, was that her eldest boy Master Matthew and his Girlfriend Tara were joining us on the boat. Well I can now tell you that her face was a picture this afternoon. We were sitting in a bar on the ship, having finally managed to get her to sit still and have a drink when I managed to time the arrival of Matt and Tara to perfection. Watching Debbie’s face move from curiosity as she ‘people watched’ to confusion, disbelief and then realisation that yes, this was Matt and Tara standing before her and that no they hadn’t forgotten her birthday pressies after all. So this was it: We had reached Debbie’s 49th Birthday and started her 50th Year. All the planning had worked out and she had all her boys with her for her special day. So, with zero days to cruising, I’m off to enjoy my cruise and think about my next cunning plan.
Let’s face it, at the time of writing:
There’s just 115 shopping days to Christmas: As all the stores will soon let us know.
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