Yes it is good to be back in the peaceful Merse after the hurley burley of the Big Smoke but it is the little inconveniences of rural life which can be irritating. We miss Dave the Paper. The wife did her post Big Smoke shop to day but forgot the paper. The neighbour who goes into town on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and volunteers to pick up the Indy for us forgot we were back, so confined himself to the Daily Mail. Its not really worth doing the round trip of 14 something miles just for a paper but at least it saved me from a fresh burst of irritation on the Indy's coverage of Iraq. Good for the blood pressure.
Second rural affliction is the oil supply. In the absence of Mains Gas, solar power (obstructed by the sun hating Mr Fish) we make do with oil for cooking and heating. We have a large tank and we also have a winding lane. Since we arrived here most oil companies have abandoned their small 4 wheeler tankers for the giant articulated lorries which just can't back up our lane-no room to turn if they come frontwards as the Lord intended. We are left with a couple of companies who can just manage with unarticulated tankers but with highly articulated drivers who are wont to wax lyrical about the problems of reversing around corners up a pock marked lane closely hemmed in by rampant vegetation. But now one of the two companies (who had offered us a regular top up contract) has backed out. Line 'too windy' (as in turns, not as in nature's flatulence) Also the driver is not 'allowed to climb a five foot wall' This is a reference to the wall which protects our brand new 2600 litre tank installed by the selfsame firm which now can't reach it. Their local driver is suffering from two broken ribs from a previous five footer and enough is enough. Ladders have been removed from tankers as standard equipment in case the drivers have a rush of blood to the head, succomb to temptation and actually try to put the pipe through a tank opening five feet above the ground. We can only hope that the other company will not now follow suit quoting health and safety and the 6th Amendment. If this happens we wil be 'quarely gunked'** as they say in Norn Ireland.
** Stuffed
