Happy Birthday Boatbuilder!

[Chrissie777]

Happy Birthday from André and me as well. ♥ I've posted a message on your Facebook page.

[Boatbuilder]

Thanks everyone for all your kind birthday wishes for yesterday.

I had quite a hectic weekend. Saturday was my elder daughter and her husband's 28th wedding anniversary and they took me out for a meal Saturday night. Yesterday, they came to me for a meal although I am surprised that after the amount we ate Saturday night we wanted to eat on Sunday.

Of course it was also a weekend that had its sad moment being my first birthday since Enid passed away. However, I have ordered a good quality teak memorial bench for my garden along with an engraved brass placque in Enid's memory and they will be here by the end of this week.The bench will replace an old cheap rickety one that has been in the garden for a good number of years.

PS. I love the cat, Courtenay.

[Boodi 2]

John, it did cross my mind that this would be your first birthday since Enid passed away, but I did not mention it for fear of making you feel too depressed. The teak memorial bench with the engraved brass plaque sounds lovely and a fitting tribute to Enid's memory, so hopefully it will arrive soon.

[Boatbuilder]

That's OK, Monique. The bench, which comes already assembled, is being delivered tomorrow and the plaque I ordered arrived today, which I will have to attach. I also ordered a seat cushion which arrived a couple of days ago, so I should have it all complete and in place sometime tomorrow. I hope the weather is fine - so far the forecast seems OK.

I am wondering though who will sit on the new bench most. This happened to be picked up on my rear garden security camera at 04:11 this morning - Suki and Freddie getting ready for the sunrise one last time on the old bench.

[IceMaiden]

[Boatbuilder]

Thank you, IceMaiden. It was as ‘purrrfect’ as it could be.

[Boodi 2]

Yes, judging by that photo Suki and Freddie will get great value out of the new bench!

Hopefully you were able to add the final touches as it is raining here at the moment, which is a relief as everything is extremely dry and dusty after several weeks of hot weather and next to no rain.

[Boatbuilder]

Yes, the bench was delivered just after lunch, Monique and I attached the plaque. I will be putting a couple of planters near to it but need to get the plants for them over the weekend.



Freddie wasted no time in trying it out once he was aware it was there, as picked up by the camera.



As you can see my grass is in real need of some rain so perhaps you could divert some of yours.

[Katharine]

That's a really lovely bench.

[Boodi 2]

It really is lovely John and Freddie seems very fond of it already.

I fear that our rain is gone again, as it stopped yesterday evening and there has been none since. However, it is cooler and the rain water barrels are full again, which is a relief.

[Courtenay]

That is a lovely bench and good to see Freddie approves of it! I hope Suki will enjoy it too.

[IceMaiden]

That's a lovely bench BB, it looks beautifully made. Hope you get the weather for sitting outside now!

[Boatbuilder]

Thanks Katharine, Monique, Courtenay and Ice Maiden. I am very pleased with it.

We had some rain last night, Monique, but not nearly enough.

I don't think Suki has ventured onto it yet, Courtenay - well nothing the camera has picked up. I'm sure her time to try it out will be soon.

The weather is forecast to be quite good tomorrow, so who knows, IceMaiden.

Of course being a brass plaque, it will need regular cleaning, I found I had some of the Brasso cleaner in one of my cupboards but unfortunately, being the wads, they had dried out as they must be many years old. This afternoon I went into our local Morrison's but couldn't see any of it on the shelves so I asked a young male assistant (probably about 21 years old) who was stacking shelves if they had any. He gave me a somewhat puzzled look and so I explained what it was and he still couldn't help. However, when I went down the next aisle, I found both the tins of Brasso wads and the tin 'bottles' of the liquid type. It was next to the shoe polishes, not with other cleaning items where I had expected to find it. I bought the liquid one and walked down the other aisle and showed it to the assistant. At least if he is ever asked for it again by anybody, he might remember it.

[IceMaiden]

He didn't know what Brasso was?!

That reminds me of the time I went into my local Boots and asked the young male assistant if they had a pumice stone. He gave me the blankest look ever, obviously didn't have a single clue what one was and tried to hide it by looking desperately around all the soaps and bath sponges then took me around the whole shop stammering "erm er well er I'm sure it's erm well it was around here er somewhere!". The relief on his face when I said I'd call back another day!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Last winter I went to my local supermarket and asked an assistant whether they had any hot water bottles. "Of course," said the assistant - and led me to a shelf full of flasks!