My plans for the next while include:
– waiting for the broadband connection and a heating oil delivery, then
– painting the Manchester flat (probably late next week), then
– attending a Treesponsibility gathering all next weekend, sleeping in someone else’s barn and learning how and why to plant trees, then
-a few days spare, then
– down to London around the following weekend, hopefully to stay with you for a short while, then
– collect Bandit from Heathrow with friend Eileen, then
– a couple of weeks spare, then
– Monica arrives and spare time becomes a dream! Then
– our furniture arrives 17 December, if we’re lucky, then
– hordes descend upon us for Christmas though we can’t guarantee accommodation so we’re suggesting renting somewhere nearby.
In that short-term spare time, I plan to board out the workshop so that my shed stuff doesn’t become a rusting heap; and renovate an existing crane to get household spares up into the Shippen roof where it’s driest.
There are horses and bridlepaths *everywhere* here. I’ve been over the tops a couple of times and it’s a lot more horsey than anywhere else I’ve been. You can even get a guided, multiple-day tour staying out in barns etc.
The farm continues to please and surprise me. Examples: in the gun cabinet, which I swear was empty last week, I found the sibling of a favourite hunting knife I lost in my boyhood; the odd-job guy told me there’s a permanent white-water kayak course nearby; Ralph casually mentioned that a pair of carved, ancient cupboard doors are lying in the hayloft; and the old clock has started working so I have the same feeling of calm quietude that I experienced at the Stank.