Thursday 3 July 2008

Not so bad after all

Our friend had got a catcher for the sheep, so when we arrived at 9.15 a.m. to help out it was quite a nice surprise, after driving three-quarters of an hour, to find we were not needed! All that Laura and Thomas said was"at least it got us up!"

I ended up tractor driving for the day, which made Sunday a better day, Laura and Thomas caught up with their sleep in the afternoon.

It's now official - we have sold the farm and are downsizing. I don't say retiring as the number of sheep we are taken keeps rising. From "how many sheep do you want?" it has now gone up to 120. But no heifers. And we still have to find somewhere to go. Am I stressed? No. Something will appear. The purchaser of our farm wants us to stay for a year to help him out, but we cannot put our life on hold if something comes up.

Had some lovely e-mails this week. One from my bridemaid of 22 years ago - she was 5 then, and her mum wanted to find me. One also from a relative-by marriage in New Zeland - could be a holiday on the cards (if he is interested in cricket!). One of the temptations of retirement was the promise of a winter cricket tour while we are still you enough to enjoy it - the Caribean calls!

Anyway, we are now farm hunting and it's quite exciting. We're staying in France, and in the same area (Vienne/Haute Vienne), and have tickets to see Tina Turner in Paris next March. Anyone fancy farm-sitting?