The Clerk in the Country

Friday 4th September 2020

Working in the rain

Readers who are YPS members have probably realized that the gap in blog entries was caused by work on the quarterly newsletter, which under current circumstances proved less straightforward than usual.  The very wettest of last week’s series of rainy days saw me crossing the dripping Museum Gardens, hauling a trolley laden with boxes of envelopes and reams of paper, two kitchen rolls, a pack of antiseptic wipes, a supply of masks, a pair of biodegradable gloves and a flask of tea, all wrapped and double-wrapped in plastic carrier bags.  As the day progressed, it became clear that this had been the easy part.  The keyboard wouldn’t communicate with the computer, the computer was not on speaking terms with the printer, and the printer flatly refused to countenance putting anything on two sides of a sheet of paper.  Thanks to a good deal of patient experimentation, helpful suggestions from the Chair, sympathy (but nothing more useful) from the printer company, and several cups of tea, by the end of the day the newsletters were printed and ready to send out.  I felt a real sense of achievement, as I paddled back across the Gardens with my empty flask.

Meanwhile at home in the countryside the sense of frustration was even greater, as the rain brought a halt to harvesting and transformed ripe golden fields into a soggy mess.  Better weather in the last few days has seen a flurry of activity – combining, baling and even cultivating in preparation for sowing oilseed rape.  The first week of September is traditionally the ideal time for this – but traditionally cereals are harvested in August!  In this topsy-turvy year seed time and harvest have ended up as the same season.

If any non-members would like to read our Newsletters, there is a link to present and past editions on the website homepage.