A million birthday wishes at your feet. Happy Birthday Bob.

Hi Bob,

A billion people will be saying the same thing to you today, and from what I know you’ll be sitting somewhere peaceful and quiet, with family and friends, just being you.

And why not?  If I make it to 80 I’d like to do that on my birthday too.  Just hanging out.  No big celebration, no speeches, no reflections, just those people who really matter to me and who kindly say I matter to them.  Family, friends, you know what I mean.

Of course you’ve not noticed us Bob, because well, I guess we’ve done this site for us, not for you.  And anyway you’ve got a load of other stuff to think about.

No, we’ve done it because we love what you’ve done for us.  And just occasionally in the wildest of the wild dreams that follow me through the nights, I think maybe you might get an inkling of just how you have touched us all.

There’s nothing my friends and I who work on this website can give you, except a big vote of thanks, and a sense that well, you did all that, and we did this, and maybe somewhere along the line, the two sides meet.

Cheers Bob.  Have a good day.  And for everyone’s sake, just keep on keeping on.  Tangled or untangled, I don’t really mind which.  As long as you are there.

And may I finally offer back to you as one final thing, a recording you’ve probably forgotten all about.  It is, for me, your unheralded masterpiece, and is with me every day.  (And not just because you say, “Ready Tony?” at the start).

I look at you and I smile.  How could it be any other way.

Tony.