CLOCKING ON

CLOCKING ON
I really must buy a new clock, this morning and not for the first time, I woke, looked at the clock, panicked and got up at once,only to discover half an hour later that I had miss read the time and got up an hour early. Pa old Pa had a hospital appointment this morning and I bounced the poor man out of bed far too early and I have to report that he was not at all pleased.

Looking on the bright side it was a beautiful morning and it was pleasant to drink my coffee in the orchard as the sun sent spears of golden light through the branches of the apple tree.

Baking the days bread was my first task and as I still have no oven this meant baking today’s six loaves next door, a performance of which I am becoming rather tired. Having been given another bag of flour, stone ground spelt from a mill on the Isle of Wight I decided to use some, blended with whole meal flour , some white flour and some flax and millet seed. Loaves made entirely of spelt flour tend to be quite hard and require stronger teeth than my own.

My son arrived home late from work as he had attended the leaving party of a friend from work, they joined the company at the same time and have been friends ever since, my son is very sad but it serves only to harden his resolve to leave himself during the course of the next few months,. Both young men are dedicated and hard working, it is MY opinion that a company that allows such people to slip through its fingers deserves all it gets! Alienating an entire workforce is quite an achievement and takes a degree of dedicated carelessness that takes my breath away.



By the time my son arrived home Pa had breakfasted and left, two sitting breakfasts are not at all uncommon here and I made a batch of waffles for our meal and although we were both tired it was a merry one. We talked over our plans for the week and plans of a longer term, the sun streamed in to the kitchen and the morning air, still cool was pleasant.
Afterwards my son went to his room to rest and I set off to deliver a loaf to a friend.

My route took me past some fields I which a herd of cattle were disporting themselves under the shade of a group of oaks, they grazed in desultory fashion on the few leaves that still hung down, the underside of these trees is almost entirely flat as a result of these attentions.
They did not raise their heads as I passed by but swished their tails to defend themselves from biting insects .

This morning I was informed that the long awaited cooker knobs will not be fitted tomorrow as the wrong ones had been sent, was I surprised? Of course not, I predicted it a early as last Wednesday,and the reason for my certainty is that I happen to know that the model has been obsolete for so long that the manufacturers no longer carry spares. Now I imagine the electrician who supplied the wretched thing is trying to work out what his next excuse will be. Some one has been rather naughty I think and now the birds have come home to roost.
Meanwhile I am still without an oven and getting crosser by the minute. The Estate Manger
who is really to blame for this mess is desperately attempting to shift the blame for his mistakes on to anyone and every one to save himself, This is the way of most managers of his type and is therefore also no surprise.

Refusing to be unhappy on such a blissful summer day I repaired to the garden with a pot of tea and a plate of toast as at twelve O clock I realised that while I had cooked breakfast for Pa and later for the estate worker who came with the bad news I had eaten nothing myself. I shared my meal with my tame robin who adores buttery crumbs. All was peace and calm and I enjoyed my breakfast as much as if it had been a banquet . There is such solace in nature, such a balm to stress and trouble that I wonder that Doctors do not prescribe it as a panacea for these ills instead of peddling endless pills , it would be so much nicer.

The day is over and we have finished our meal of soup and new bread, as always on this day we are all tired and an early night is on the cards I think. Looking out across the garden, over the lane and into the fields I can see the cattle again moving towards the trees , the air is sweet and fragrant with the smell of cut grass and at this moment in time our lovely little village looks as it has looked for centuries. I send out to what ever Gods are listening a fervent prayer that nothing happens to spoil its calm timeless beauty, the tawny owl has just flown in to the lime tree at the bottom of my garden as he does every night. Goodnight everyone sleep well and wake happy.