Jim Webster's Blog, page 65

And you try and tell the young people of today that ….. they won’t believe you.

I remember my Grandfather telling about how he and his brother went to a dance up in Broughton in Furness. This was a bike ride of seventeen miles there and seventeen miles back. (I’ve done it myself, but didn’t dance when I got there!) Anyway they were almost home and it was late (or early …

Give folk what they want

Not a long blog, just a comment really. Everyone told me that ‘you’re a writer; you’ve got to have a blog’. The idea being that you mention your books in a blog and people are so overwhelmed with the deathless quality of your prose they dash off to buy the books. So I’ve been doing …

Beach cobbles and courtesy

It’s a lot of years ago now when I come to think of it. But on one side of our meadow gate, leading into the yard, there was a low wall. It was made of beach cobbles, (think rustic rubble,) and cement. The only thing of real interest was that one of the stones was …

Marks and Spencer knicker adverts

Now I cannot claim to have set out to be a connoisseur of M&S knickers, but a cruel and unkind fate as forced the role upon me. Still there are questions unanswered, for example, surely rosebuds just there cannot be comfortable? Still I’m getting ahead of myself. Really this piece should be entitled something prosaic …

Who needs this technology stuff anyway?

I have a confession to make. I’m not really an ‘early adopter’ when it comes to new technology. I suppose I object to using something, just because it’s new when the old one still works well enough. Some of it might be the farmer in me. After all, we’re in an industry which has been …

Look, just blow the chuffing whistle.

I might just start to rant again. Let’s hear it for our whistle-blowers. They’ve not been having too good a time. If we take the Mid Staffs hospital scandal; the whistle-blowers, the ones who have kicked up the fuss, who brought it to public attention have hardly been welcomed by the authorities, but those who …

Wood warms you twice?

I meant to write this yesterday, but somehow never got round to it. The morning was a bit grim and kept me busy. It was snowing. In the afternoon I enjoyed one of my favourite pastimes, working out and writing out invoices. I must admit, I do write a really nice invoice. I ought to …

There’s a lamb climbing out of the oven

I suppose a lamb climbing out of the oven isn’t major problem for most households, and indeed it isn’t a problem for us either to be honest. I’d even see it as a sign of success. Our Rayburn, like others of its ilk, has a hot chamber below the oven. This is a useful facility, …

Horsemeat instead of Beef, someone stop me if I start to rant

Right. Beef. Every bovine in the UK (and EU) has individual ID, an individual record on a centralised computer system and a passport! I’ve got over a hundred of these chuffing passports sitting in an apple box in the office. We also have a medicine book which was inspected a couple of months ago, and …

Horse burgers and hypocrisy.

I remember a Lady of my acquaintance who would say, when presented with evidence of greed or bureaucratic heartlessness, “It makes you spit.” Now I know just how she felt. In the UK the livestock industry has had to jump through a myriad bureaucratic hoops ‘to maintain consumer confidence.’ Every bovine on this farm has …