We should be grateful that the blackbird, a clear favourite in our garden apart from beloved Gordon the guinea fowl, doesn’t seem to fancy the red currants! He’s decimated the lovely soft juicy black currants (I knew he was after…
Category: Transitions
Wildflower joys . . .
As I write, Earnest the neighbour’s pea cock is stretched out indolently between the white elder and the pink one in the sunshine, between the wild roses and the rampant honeysuckle, as if he owns the place. Maybe he does,…
The Crown crashes out in Catton
With a short notice on the Crown in Catton facebook page, the Crown has announced its closing by the end of play today: “The Crown will close at 6pm on Sunday 30th June. We will be open as usual from…
Solar panel slump
Apparently, with the demise of feed-in contracts, the installation of photovoltaic solar panels across the country has come to a shuddering halt; numbers have crashed by 94% since the hey-day of the big subsidies, and the industry here in the…
Dreams of a rural idyll
As the long and slow process of my recovery continues apace, I find myself thinking intermittently of just what sort of rural idyll I’d imagined we’d find ourselves in, at this point in our lives. You don’t usually plan ill…
The middle lane, and edging slower
I’m juggling two parallel concepts today (I imagine an extended hospital stay exerts kind of a philosophical tug on the old heartstrings — at least it did on mine). I remember so well, some 35 years ago, when suddenly we…
Gate or grid . . .
We put our first farm gate in nearly thirty years ago when we moved from the suburban wilderness to the richly endowed countryside. We knew we’d bought the track, but it leads through some 25 acres of sheep grazing land…
Welcome Pack: good idea or not?
I was ruminating on a post in Allendale area notices, as you do, and wondering whether the enquirer, newly arriving in the area, could use the services of a friendly Welcome Pack. As far as I know, nothing like that…
Cuckoo calling . . .
We know you’re eager mate, but 5:30 in the morning eager? That’s just too much “cuckoo-cuckoo” for us, even though we love to awaken with the fresh breeze wafting in through the bedroom window. It all started on Sunday, and…
Old and getting older
There’s something about the ‘Valuation Evening’ at Allendale Village Hall tonight that’s frightening. Not in the sense of ‘family treasures’ . . . nah, that’s just a hoot — nothing we own could be said to have any more intrinsic…