Jim Webster's Blog, page 22

A review

Originally posted on Have We Had Help?:
Once in a while a book really gets to you. Jim Webster’s book Sometimes I just Sits and Thinks has done just that to me. Jim is a farmer in the English county of Cumbria. His sense of humour shines throughout each episode. If you come from farming…

My beef with experts

People tell us that we’re wrong to disbelieve the experts. After all they’re the ones who know stuff so we should listen to them. The problem comes when you get older. Experts are best if they’re like historians who look back and pontificate on the past. That works. Yes you can argue with other historians, …

You need to know the truth about the elephant in the room.

Originally posted on M T McGuire Authorholic:
This is a dementia related post I’m afraid, but it’s also, kind of, a warning. As I’ve probably said before, but I’ll say it again, the reason I write the posts about my dad are because most of us have no idea what happens when a person gets…

It was a bit cold

Freezing fog to wake up to. It wasn’t ‘that’ cold but still it was time to go into cold weather mode. The first trick you learn is to put a bucket of really hot water through the milking parlour before you start milking. This is because, if there’s any ice in the system, you might …

Review of ‘Fancy Meeting You Here’, by Jim Webster

Originally posted on Stevie Turner:
I always enjoy Jim’s farming stories, as he has a way of telling a tale that is entertaining but informative at the same time. I’ve learned a lot about sheep, cattle and working dogs while reading this book, and always wondered how on earth a sheepdog learns to do what…

Pontifications on a road less travelled. Looking back on the present?

  This week we’ve had politics and I’ve been devoutly glad this house doesn’t possess either a TV or a TV licence. Thus we’ve been spared great screeds of analysis that was out of date within an hour or two of being broadcast. But during the week it has occurred to me that when I …

Funny what makes you think

Cumbria is an interesting county. The photo I took on Wednesday, looking north. The small white blob is Orton church tower. It’s not necessarily what people normally associate with Cumbria, but it’s a very diverse county. One thing we do have is lots of tourists and lots of sheep. To be fair there are large …

And the truth will set you free

It’s all the fault of my mate Kier who posted a link to a video by the Historian Niall Ferguson. Being a historian Ferguson tends to take a somewhat longer view than most modern pundits for whom a whole decade appears to be an unimaginably long period of time. But Niall Ferguson commented that our …

And a happy new year to you all as well!

I know people who cannot remember what they were doing last New Year’s Eve. I know people who only remember because they got a photocopy of the police charge sheet which describes their antics in inglorious detail. For myself I confess I’m not a great celebrator of New Year’s Eve. From memory I think I’ve …

Pontifications on a road less travelled. The cat that got all of the cream.

There was a comment in the paper the other day. Here in the UK, clowns are starting to complain that politicians are being called clowns. The clowns point out that being a clown is damned hard work, demands considerable fitness, great timing and the ability to work closely with others as part of a well …