© 2003, Michael Kennedy
 Greetings all, Yesterday was the 111th anniversary of Tolkien's birth (today in the UK), so some of us, who are positively and relatively neighbourly, managed to come together to toast the Professor. David, Ted, Peter and myself met at Ted's Hobbit hole where we congregated around his newly named bar (for the day only!) - The Eagle and Child. After chatting and chinning (mostly about the disappointments of the latest movie) for a while we ventured outdoors and made our way along the Esplanade. We could easily have been mistaken for four hobbits leaving Bucklebury on an adventure of sorts (I'm not sure who was who!☺). However, no encounters with friend or foe was had; the magnificent weather lent itself to a pleasant and carefree stroll.  On
our return we then setup for the toast which occurred around 2pm, which
would make us some of the first people in the world, owing to time
differences, to raise our glasses to the Professor. However, instead of
glasses we were blessed to have at hand four aged 'silver-grey' (or
white ☺)' pewter goblets - very Hobbitish! The all important beverage
of choice was Ted's own home-brewed mead. However, being a mostly
'non-drinker' as well as a driver, I chose another favoured flavoured
drink of Hobbits - Ginger Beer! The toast you can see for yourself in
image 1, courtesy of my digital camera with a timer and Ted's tripod.
David's face was unintentionally obscured so image 2 is a staged toast
- not that you would know! |