Rather a full day yesterday, full of births and buffaloes. Perhaps I need to explain. The first of the birthdays, chronologically speaking, was The Lad and yesterday was his 20th birthday so Good Lady Wife and myself went over to Sheffield to take presents, cards and greetings. Twenty years seems an awful long time but it was thrown into perspective the other day when I rediscovered a series of postcards I had sent to him during the first month of his life. In the main these cards contained a mixture of day-to-day gossip and philosophical speculation. The first of the series was, however, quite prosaic and I reproduce it here as evidence that the Lad's well-known lack of organisation has been a problem since birth.
After we met Alexander and his friend Ayelet in Sheffield we all went for lunch with our good friends (and fellow cruisers) Harry and Elaine. The lunch was a double celebration as H&E had received news of the birth of their first grandchild the day before. Their grand-daughter had been born at eleven minutes passed eleven on the eleventh day of the eleventh month and most appropriately will be named Poppy. The picture shows Ayelet, The Lad, Harry, the GLW and Elaine.
Those who have nothing better to do than read this blog may remember that I wrote some months ago about my long-standing desire to become a Buff. I wrote somewhat whimsically about the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes and feared that my levity might mean I was banned from the organisation altogether (indeed I feared they might come in search of me to seek revenge). So you can imagine my trepidation last night when I was enjoying a harmless pint in the pub and a whole coach-load of Buffs - smartly dressed in Lodge blazers -came through the door. I went and hid in the toilets until they had left but my absence during a critical quarter of an hour meant that my team could only come second in the pub quiz. Failing to find me in my usual seat at the Rock probably means that the posse of Buffaloes is still on the prowl and therefore I will need to keep my head down for a few days.
AMY TAKES HER REVENGE : Alan Burnett is still sending daft postcards. But now it is virtual postcards from the virtual coast to coast walk by him and his dog Amy.
What a wonderful postcard! Now keep an eye peeled for those buffaloes!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday for yesterday to The Lad.
ReplyDeleteLove the description of the buffaloes - have never heard of them before! (and yes, I do think you may have excluded yourself from membership!)
Poor Amy. At least you are not virtually travelling through Korea.
Love the way she has been called Poppy, very appropriate. Interested to see you could send a postcard for 4d twenty years ago. Regarding the Buffs, my maternal grandfather was in the Buffs when he lived at Neepsend; their street has been knocked down now, it was close by the gasworks. I always remember the smell of snuff around my grandfather, that and the black waistcoat he always wore with a pocket (fob) watch. Not very much in fashion any more.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess you will be a loner for life considering you are too honest in your descriptions of things. The poor man's Mason's didn't help, but the stripper part was frosting on the cake. I guess you may need to bond with some other group, you have the rest of your life to search for them. You have a fine looking Lad to be proud of and his being 20 years old is special. Kids grow up way too fast. Nice read today, and I should be busy doing something else but my quality of life things says, I have to read Alan everyday.
ReplyDeleteI love that postcard- it is so funny and special!
ReplyDeleteThe postcard made me laugh. Very clever and funny.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the title I thought maybe you referred to Buffalonians, people from my home area of Buffalo, NY. Then I thought maybe you have an interest in the animal-kind of Buffalo. Now I see what you mean, the "Royal Order of...", but then you say "Buff." Here in America that's like the "Full Monty!"
ReplyDeleteI think it's adorable that you sent postcards to your son. What lovely things for him to retain. All I have is rather incomplete baby books and a couple of paint smattered baby dungarees! My dad was in the Mason's for quite a while but never spoke of it. I was mightily pissed off when my brother nicked his little 'briefcase'with all his paraphernalia in it. I still don't know what was in that case.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to your lad, Alan, and many more. The postcard made me laugh. What a wonderful thing to have from one's dad.
ReplyDeleteWow, that was a lot of "11" - my lucky number! How incredibly cool that you've kept those postcards - fun memories :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Xander. 20? Wow. Looks like a fun celebration.
ReplyDeleteFun and nostalgic post. What a lovely family you have. Loved the post card to your son.
ReplyDeleteQuick! Hide! The Buffs are coming your way again.
What a fantastic idea—sending your baby son a postcard to retain for the future. I love it!
ReplyDelete