It is hard to believe that another year has passed. As you read this we'll be travelling back from a holiday at the coast. It's been a hell of year for all of us especially Kath. We needed the break.
We have hopefully lived through the terrible twos (I am told that the fucking fours are worse) - I am also expecting them to end today! Every sentence is peppered with "why?" so much so that I have had to revert to a technique that my father used on me which I vowed never to use and that is "because I SAY SO!!!". There is no guarantee that this will be a successful response.
Still - it has been a wonderful year for us and him. He is no longer a baby - he's a little boy with a growing sense of reason and an even greater vocabulary (probably as a result of the perpetual "why"). He is a total character and stands out where ever we go. And he is absolutely adored by everyone - especially his mother and father. Next year he's off to nursery school.
There are too many highlights in the last year to even begin listing. I really look forward to walking him to school in the morning - he's a companion who loves to tell me stories about Lunar Jim and his hover scooter (Lola Jim as Oliver calls him). This hover scooter is so important that we have been tasked to go and find one in America at the end of the year. I'll be sure to report back on our success.
As many of you will know, Oliver was born on Peter Green's birthday (I have Green's and Oliver's birth certificates mounted on my study wall). And the tradition is to post one Green and one Ollie Halsall song to celebrate the day.
02 - Fleetwood Mac - If You Be My Baby
I've always loved this tune and I think we'll attempt to cover it at some stage. Before the band starts playing Green calls the tune in C (a tone lower than the studio version). The band turns this into a BB King (with a hint of Buddy Guy) number with Green packing in the maximum amount of innuendo. A stunning rendition from 1969. Happy birthday Mr Green (64 today).
Patto - Holy Toledo BBC 2-12-73
Patto fans don't like this track because of the sax. I love this song, admittedly it would be better without the sax (because it does detract from Ollie's guitar playing), but it is a great song about a smitten 17 year old (27 is not that old you know). It never made it onto an album so we have to do with the BBC version.
Happy birthday gorgeous Bun, thank you so much for choosing us as parents and we look forward to every day with you.
(PS - that's Oliver with his paternal grandmother - no she's not his sister)