Spring Offensive: River views

" Hello all ,
Wyeford-Clarke here,feeling a deuce chipper these days, with  the onset of Spring. The sap is rising, the knees are cracking and the mornings are a tad lighter.

Told my man Baxter to ' anoint the willow ' with the Linseed oil, in readiness for our annual cricket bash in May. Went out with our  gardener ' Mouldy ' Muldoon to inspect the square. Told him light rolling could commence when the ground firmed up a little more. We play at the behest of our local Vicar, The  Rev. Edward ' harris-ed '  Harris  of St. Needfulls.

The Memsahib is in charge of the catering and all monies raised will go the Vicar's new chairs for the church.
 I am allowed to bat if needed,  at number nine. I am left when fielding, to patrol the  distant boundaries; where I attempt to stop the ball; which in reality means anything from waist to neck possible; anything above or below unlikely. 
Baxter, though  is a very useful bowler for our team, and when prompted, with jibes like( what about the Scots Rugby team? or I see Hearts are beating Rangers.) can   raise a a veritable head of steam,  make the dust  fly and  the stumps  fall. Good man.

Mind you, in the old days of the veldt, I could give the ball a good seeing to and made the other side chase about, often in abject dismay as I piled the runs up. 
I was not, however as technically accomplished as my chum Duncan ' drunken sot ' Soate. An imposing figure,  he would stride slowly to the wicket and take guard with great care and await his first delivery. If the ball bounced alarmingly, at great speed, Duncan would take guard and then,  just as the bowler was running with great alacrity , he would hold his hand up and  with purposeful determination, remove his monocle from his pocket, polish carefully on his flannels, place in his eye and nod to the umpire that he was  ready to receive. The deflated bowler would resume; noting the baleful look and often shine from the eye-piece and nine out of ten times bowl a long lop outside the wicket, just waiting to be smashed, which Duncan put away with some style. At which time he would loudly utter " that's more like it. "
The bowler was now in Duncan's pocket and after a few high scoring overs would be removed by the captain. With this greatly accelerated run-rate, Duncan often swung the match in our favour.
The funny thing was that when Duncan assumed his post-match bar-seat, one never saw his monocle for the rest of the evening.

The Memsahib, has become very interested in that Yankee crowns and copulation  programme " A Game of Bones." I sometimes view it with her and often ask why I haven't seen so and so; to which she usually replies, " wake up  he/she died seasons ago. " Oh well!

So enamoured with the series, she now attends  lectures on heraldry and wants to produce our family shield.
"Have you thought about an animal for it," I asked boldly.  " Well, there's sure to be an old boar somewhere, " she replied. 

What can she have meant?

However readers, she is now in my debt, thanks to my old chum Dicky 'legs' Mitchell who managed somehow to get her a ticket for last Wednesday's ( 18 / 3 ) special premiere of the first episode of the new season. It was held in The Tower of London

Pictures placed by A.B.

She was very impressed,  seeing also thirty five members of the cast and arrived home in a very commodious mood, although she has yet to call me ' Your Grace !'

I see the 'Boy George ' has made annuities able to be cashed in. I will meeting with my accountant Charlie ' shylock ' Gendry shortly,  to see whether I can enhance my liquid assets, especially if we have a' balls-up' with 'wedding band ' assuming power. Perish the thought.

We are introducing a new brand of cider this summer, "Cherry Corp " which I think will do rather well and offset the loss we have made on the sales of our logs, due to the clement winter with above average temperatures.

Well that's about it from the Manse this time.

Goodbye,

W.C. "

MmmmmmmmmmJ

On Wednesday, 18th March D. and I, upon a spring-like day drove to the Forest of Dean. The trees were bare of foliage and ready for the return of colour, so we headed for the river and reached Newnham on Severn, The sky was azure, the temperature was warming and there was only a little breeze to trouble us. A perfect day for strolling along the river bank.

The Severn is very wide at this point. It is said that the Romans had a crossing point nearby using the sandbanks at low tide. Our path was quite muddy in places and we were glad we remembered our walking boots.

The rushes were big and almost biblical in size. They created interesting light features looking through them at the Severn beyond.

The white building on the horizon marked the end of our walk, whereupon we retraced our steps until we reached a  thoughtfully placed bench where we sat, munched, drank and enjoyed the view before us.
After that we left and drove on to eventually enjoy some retail therapy . The end of a perfect day.

MmmmmmmmmmJ

Well, we are are now at the cusp of Easter and time for me to take a short break. Before I abandon  the keyboard,  I would like to  leave you with this traditional Irish Celtic Blessing:


May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields 
and until we meet again, 
may God hold you in the palm of His hand

Travel with care this Easter my friends,

Cheerio for now,
C.k