Oxen in Oxon

 There had been a lot of rain overnight. Ellie, who had asked to sleep here last night, slept right through and the Gorse Fox was up and about before she stirred. We had to get her washed, dressed, and fed before Pistol Pete came to collect herder the weekend.

We also had plans. We headed off, crossing from West Sussex in to Hampshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire before looping back into Oxfordshire. The Silver Vixen's nephew and partner were holding a BBQ for the family as a celebration for the 1 year-old's birthday and as a pseudo christening. It was only a pseudo christening because there were still so problems with availability at the church and some restrictions on numbers. 

The journey was slow as we headed up to Winchester and then as we finally got some clearer roads, the heavens opened and we drove through some very heavy rain. By the time we arrived, the rain had cleared and the sun was battling the clouds for supremacy.

We spent a lovely afternoon out in the garden as Trevor drove the BBQ and the buffet table was kept topped up with the mandatory mountains of food. Trevor seemed to be at the grill for at least 2 hours. There were dozens of thick burgers (the Gorse Fox had noticed the nearby fields looked somewhat depleted), several thousand sausages and the complete output from a poultry farm.

It was particularly nice to see Kevin (Eleanor's husband) there for the event. It is lovely that he is not only welcomed to these events, but also feels comfortable to attend. Because of prior commitments, we were the only family members that were there, but spent a lovely afternoon chatting with their friends and Caroline's family.

As with all family parties, at some point the youngsters headed out to the playing fields behind the house to play ball games. The Gorse Fox has decided that this is no longer an appropriate activity for a man of his advancing years and his competitive nature. He watched for a while, with amusement, but managed to control the urge to join in.

After a lovely day we said out goodbyes and headed off home. The journey home was much better and we were sitting down in the living room before 8 o'clock. We made an evening of it by watching the Jubilee Concert from outside the Palace. The event was wonderful, but the acts were a very mixed bag. Queen was good, Alicia Keys was brilliant, Andrea Bocelli was brilliant but the rest were "meh!". What was fantastic, however, was the projection of images onto the Palace and the use of synchronised drones to form images and write messages in the sky above the Palace.