These last few mornings there has been a nip in the air, and a definite smell of autumn. The hills are purple with heather, the fields of grass turned brown. It seems awfully early, but then perhaps it always does after a wet summer.
Last week there were riots and looting in cities across England. Try as I might, I cannot get my head into the mindset of the people who do the damage, it seems so counter-productive. Perhaps I have been lucky to have never been in their situation. Having said that, I do remember a time a long time ago when I had no money and stole some turnips out of a farmer's field, and lived on that and milk for a week. In those days you didn't draw more money from the bank than you had, for fear of being hauled up before the bank manager.
Against this backdrop, we received a call last week from the Lady of the Bridleway. She was trying to put in a large waymarking sign, but the post was too heavy for her to manage single-handledly. So Birdman and I set off to the place where we had been mending fencing damaged by four-wheel drive vehicles a couple of weeks previously. The post, which measured about 20cm by 20cm in girth and held a sign announcing a voluntary one-way system, had been erected to guide traffic down a particularly rough piece of track. The post had been forcibly lifted out of the ground so that vehicles could drive over the place where it had been erected. It had been cemented in in the first place. In order to pull it out, the person(s) responsible must have used a winch or a crane of some kind, so it wasn't just a random act of vandalism, it was planned and must have taken place at a time when very few people were likely to be about. On this particular stretch of bridleway there are about five gates. Every single one had been damaged by being driven into. I expressed my disbelief, but apparently some of the 4x4 community think that a right of way gives them the right to a clear passage. Never mind the farmers who are trying to keep their stock in a field.
It took three of us to dig a hole and to re-erect the post. The posts are extremely heavy. I am quite strong, but I could barely lift one end of it off the ground. To my utter amazement, the Birdman lifted it singlehandedly into the hole. No gym needed for him!! We saw some swallows wheeling about, and a merlin hunting some smaller birds.
Meanwhile I spent another morning with my colleagues weeding bracken out of the stewardship field. This is being encouraged by careful management to produce native wildflowers. I also received a lesson in sharpening the sickle and some shears, a useful skill indeed. We went out later and used them to clear the footpath edges of bramble and overgrowth.
Last week there were riots and looting in cities across England. Try as I might, I cannot get my head into the mindset of the people who do the damage, it seems so counter-productive. Perhaps I have been lucky to have never been in their situation. Having said that, I do remember a time a long time ago when I had no money and stole some turnips out of a farmer's field, and lived on that and milk for a week. In those days you didn't draw more money from the bank than you had, for fear of being hauled up before the bank manager.
Against this backdrop, we received a call last week from the Lady of the Bridleway. She was trying to put in a large waymarking sign, but the post was too heavy for her to manage single-handledly. So Birdman and I set off to the place where we had been mending fencing damaged by four-wheel drive vehicles a couple of weeks previously. The post, which measured about 20cm by 20cm in girth and held a sign announcing a voluntary one-way system, had been erected to guide traffic down a particularly rough piece of track. The post had been forcibly lifted out of the ground so that vehicles could drive over the place where it had been erected. It had been cemented in in the first place. In order to pull it out, the person(s) responsible must have used a winch or a crane of some kind, so it wasn't just a random act of vandalism, it was planned and must have taken place at a time when very few people were likely to be about. On this particular stretch of bridleway there are about five gates. Every single one had been damaged by being driven into. I expressed my disbelief, but apparently some of the 4x4 community think that a right of way gives them the right to a clear passage. Never mind the farmers who are trying to keep their stock in a field.
It took three of us to dig a hole and to re-erect the post. The posts are extremely heavy. I am quite strong, but I could barely lift one end of it off the ground. To my utter amazement, the Birdman lifted it singlehandedly into the hole. No gym needed for him!! We saw some swallows wheeling about, and a merlin hunting some smaller birds.
Meanwhile I spent another morning with my colleagues weeding bracken out of the stewardship field. This is being encouraged by careful management to produce native wildflowers. I also received a lesson in sharpening the sickle and some shears, a useful skill indeed. We went out later and used them to clear the footpath edges of bramble and overgrowth.
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