Saturday, 4 August 2007

what a difference a day makes


Ok - so it's a day and a half - nevertheless, it has been one of those days that you wish never started.

The grass that is down for hay, got wet the same night it was cut. Not too seriously, but wet all the same. We really need a good few hours of solid sunshine, but no such luck. Thursday and Friday have remained overcast, with showers threatened at any moment
(not like how it was forecast at all.)

Getting the photo above, carried the personal cost to me of: one anti-histamine tablet, one application of aloe vera/antihistamine cream, and a whole day of itching. I may not have mentioned that I am allergic to grass pollen/hay/dusty straw and all associated 'things' - unfortunate, isn't it?

More harvest time woes: the combine harvester broke down last night, with no prospect of a mechanic for at least two days. The baler has broken down, and my car has been delivered back, after having significant and expensive work done on it, with the good news that it needs 2 x rear tyres. Great.

I discovered upon getting up today, that we had run out of milk, and almost everything else! - so toast all round, with black tea, or orange squash (depending on age group). I then venture into the office to pick up phone messages and emails - and discover that the radiator is leaking, big time - all cables and wires connected to everything, are swimming, and the wooden floor is looking like a large expanse of soaked driftwood.

First, we have the job of emptying an old, double banked radiator, (the label on the back said 'installed in 1977'), removing it, and cleaning up the mess. It takes us two hours.

The day continues in much the same vein, and by the time Henry has tedded the hay yet again, (spinning and spreading it out to dry) and children are in bed, and all animal jobs are done, and the washing is out to dry, and everyone fed and machinery mended for the day - it is about 11.30 pm.
Henry and I sit down, with something alcoholic in a glass, and flick through a few TV channels - mainly to get the weather for tomorrow.
It is Friday evening 03 august. We come across the 'breaking news' bulletin, that an outbreak of Foot and Mouth has been confirmed in Surrey. It's the kind of news that stops you in your tracks, and reduces all problems mentioned above, into trivia. We look at the TV screen and for a moment we don't say anything at all.

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