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The Clerk in the Country
Friday 8th October 2021 Spider Season Autumn is also the season for spiders attempting to move in with me, and often succeeding. Yesterday one dropped from the ceiling only inches away; another patrolled a windowsill. In an old house the …
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 1st October 2021 It’s Autumn! I thought at first that someone had dropped an apple in the yard but on closer inspection the “fruit” proved to be a conker in its shell. Its distance from the chestnut tree was …
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 24th September 2021 Safely gathered in It might be supposed that once the crops have been brought in from the fields, the farmer can breathe a sigh of relief and perhaps enjoy a little holiday. Not so! Over the …
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 17th September 2021 Harvest continues, part 2 … As I type, on this sunny afternoon, a large black cloud is moving steadily across a field in view from my window. Now and then the shape of a combine emerges …
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 10th September 2021 Harvest continues … Although most of the cereal fields around here now look like this, there is still plenty to harvest whenever there are a few dry days. These beans are awaiting the arrival of a …
The Clerk (partly) in the Country
Friday 3rd September 2021 Back with the squirrels It is 76 weeks since I taped a notice announcing temporary closure of the Lodge because of Covid-19 to the glass panel of the door. On 31st August the office officially, though …
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 20th August 2021 If it stays like this … During that week in mid-July when the sun never stopped shining, temperatures soared and crops seemed to ripen before our eyes, neighbouring farmers, smiling, serviced their combines and said “Next …
Two hundred years ago …
Friday 13th August 2021 John Gibson Two hundred years ago the Yorkshire Philosophical Society didn’t exist. But things were afoot … In July of 1821, John Gibson, a manufacturing chemist from Essex, was visiting friends in his native Yorkshire, probably …
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 6th August 2021 A Change of Scene They say change happens slowly in the countryside but at 8 am on August 1st this took only 8 seconds.
The Clerk in the Country
Friday 30th July 2021 Reflections of a Wagtail Birds learn fast. My Pied Wagtail neighbour memorised within minutes the location of his supposed rivals, as he toured his territory attacking his own reflection wherever he spotted it. The demands of …