Village Day snapshot

The alliums are starting to bloom in the garden and Lords and Ladies (Arum Maculatum) are sprouting all up the field borders. It has been a fine, warm and rather humid day, and I have had to wear Chris' "old man's hat" in order to keep the hot sun from making my already weather beaten face a double for Mother Theresa!

I have been asked if I ever have a humdrum day?.......hum of course to some, my day in the village may be seen as "plodding", but I can honestly say that the only humdrum days I have experienced recently are those on intensive care when I am at work.

This morning I was up and out at 7.15.

All four of the broody hen boxes have had to be emptied of their occupants and the hens "woken" up by some judicious sprinkling of water onto their faces and backs. I have to go through this time consuming performance twice daily with them all; all four take an age to come to in order to drink, eat and drop their huge daily poo! Broody hens can be thick as mince when it comes to self care issues

After walking the dogs a couple of miles down gypsy lane (it was too hot! yes, HOT) to take them out in the full sun, I made a batch of fishcakes from scratch for supper then all the housework needed doing and THEN...I went to the post office to post Nuala's birthday card. The post office was deserted, as most of the pensioners from the village were attending the Christian Aid Faye at the Village Hall, so I had a brief chat to Jenny the postmistress and bought my usual diet coke before darting over to the Hall to see if there were any plants left in the sale.

Pat, one of our neighbours is famous for her gardening skills and always donates trays of seedlings for the sale. Obtaining the best plants is always a bit of a bunfight, so I "muscled" in to buy baby foxgloves for the front garden. The vicar, auntie Glad and numerous others were there having tea and biscuits At ninety, Gladys is the flower show's best raffle ticket seller and only yesterday I gave her 200 books of tickets to shift..a task she will do easily,quickly and with a great deal of good humour.....I have always found that the pensioners of the village always provide the biggest support for any village based event.

As I walked back home the chap from Anchor house yelled out his usual hello as did Ann from Rhoda Arthur, and Pippa, all breathless after her tennis lesson galloped past to the Hall after leaving me with an egg order and a load of spare bread for the birds. Bob, the retired hen keeper caught me when I was almost home and kept me talking for three quarters of an hour. I have heard his story of his mother's favourite sow and her abilities to steal grain several times now and it tickles me every time he tells it.

Before I knew it, it was afternoon, and I had an hour of weeding and sweetcorn planting to carry out, before the ritual of feeding the broody hens, dog walking and egg collection started all over again.

Humdrum?

Perhaps....... but........ quite, quite acceptable!