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Waving from the White Horse

// 2026-04-17

About a week or two ago, I took advantage of the nice weather we had over the Easter break and went with my family to the White Horse in Uffington, which isn't too far from where I live. If you've never heard of the White Horse, it's a prehistoric hill figure—Britain's oldest, in fact, dating to somewhere between 1380 BC and 550 BC. It looks like this:

If that's a familiar design to you, you might be a fan of the Swindon-based band XTC, famous for such hits as Making Plans For Nigel, Senses Working Overtime, and (for my American readers, since it's apparently the song that was most successful over there) Mayor Of Simpleton. XTC used the image of the Uffington White Horse for their 1982 album English Settlement, much to the chagrin of their international distributor, who offered to “get our artists to draw one”.

Anyway, there I was on top of White Horse Hill, enjoying the views. I mean, I defy anyone to pooh-pooh a view as lovely as this:

The above photo's not mine—I did take photos, but to be perfectly frank, I can't be bothered to go through the rigmarole of moving them from my phone onto my computer.

There I was, atop the hill (in fact, we climbed a little higher up to the crest of the hill, where an Iron Age fort once stood). I realised that I had a golden opportunity: you see, you can spot the White Horse from miles around, as long as you know where to look from down below. So, bearing in mind how much I look over in the direction of the White Horse when I get the chance, I figured others would do the same—so I stood and waved at pretty much everyone in the Vale of the White Horse.

If you were driving between Swindon and Oxford that day (I want to say last Wednesday), then I hope you waved back!