April is my birthday month. April the 23rd is also St. Georges’ Day, the patron saint of England. When I was in primary school, to celebrate the day, we could wear our Girl Guide uniform. It made me feel different, and a way of celebrating my special day, too.
I haven’t been able to celebrate for the last few years because in 2020 we were in lockdown. I didn’t even see my family let alone go out and celebrate. The following year, 2021, I was in the hospital with a blood clot in my lung. Finally, in 2022, I ended up getting Covid and was too ill to do anything. So, all in all, I haven’t been very lucky.
This year, all being well, I’m going to my daughter’s house and we are having a barbecue. They have a hut that holds up to twenty-five people, so if it rains, we can still enjoy it. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong this time.
Just for fun, a few years ago, I decided to chronicle my changing face every five years with photographs. As this year I will be 65, it’s time to add a new one. You can see them in the gallery here.
Do you share a birthday with anyone famous? On the 23rd of April, bard William Shakespeare was born, also, actor Lee Majors, British DJ Ed Stewart, actor John Hannah, and craft queen Sara Davies. I only found out about Sara last year. She is also on the tv programme called Dragon’s Den.
A long time in the distant past, I celebrated my twenty-first birthday at a nightclub in Manchester with my parents and my then-boyfriend (now husband.) I was called on stage and the compère asked me to recite tongue twisters. He wouldn’t have known I was good at them and repeated them regularly to my brother and sisters. He started with this one:
She sells sea shells on the seashore. If she sells sea shells where are the sea shells that she sells.
I got through that without a problem. ‘The next one was:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled paper, where’s the peck of pickled petter Peter Piper picked?
I got through that one easily too. He then picked a harder one knowing he would catch me out.
He wasn’t a pheasant plucker, but a pheasant plucker’s son. He’s only plucking pheasants till the pheasant plucker comes.
I got another big cheer when I completed that one without faltering. Unfortunately, the last one was a step too far with a word that a wouldn’t utter, even if my parents weren’t there.
