Well here we are t’gether agin.
A‘Time you are a readin this we’ll be over a quarter a’way through another year. I am a’writin this (second week of March) und old mother nature is a doin har best t’git some warm, growin weather, a’goin. The sun a got a bit o’heat about it though that old wind still blow cold und Jack Frorst still keep a’leavin his callin card durin the night.
We ha’a change the clocks at the end o’the Month(March) so the old evenings will start a’drawin out. That ount be long a’for I cen git outside agin arter m’tea.
I remember ni on fifty year ago when I were a’milkin cows I layed late the Sunday arter we put the clocks forrud, The farmer I were a’warkin for he allus helped me a milkin in the mornin so a’time I got inta the dairy he hed milked half the cows. When I said I were sorry for bein late He said that din’t matter cos as he’d hed milked half the cows he were a’goin t’leave me t’milk the other half while he went orf und hed his breakfast.
I see the farmers are a gittin the land ready for planting potatoes. Afor they plant the potatoes they ridge the land up und then go through the field a sivin the soil t’git any stones out so they don’t cut the potatoes when they cum t’start a’liftin them. I used t’wark with a fella who driv one o’them tractors pullin a de-stoner. Thas a slow old job und he recon when he used t’du the night shift he warked out how long that took the tractor t’go acroos the field. When he set in the other end he set an alarm clock und went t’sleep until the alarm when orf und wook him up just afor he got t’the other end o’the field
Cos plantin the seed potatoes is all dun automatically now, I cen remember when there ha’a be somebody a sittin on the machine a’droppin the seed potatoes down a tube onta the ground. The planter were a little two row thing made by Harry Ferguson at Coventry. That hed a hopper for the potatoes und a metal seat each side where yu sat above the ridging mould boards. T’make sure yu got the potatoes the right distance apart the machine had a steel wheel on it that ran in the furra, that hed a hammer on a spring attached to it. When the planter were a’goin along there were suffin on the wheel that made the hammer strike the wheel und that made a noise like a bell bein struck. Yu ha’a drop a seed potato down the tube every time the bell sounded. The men sittin on the planter din’t like it cos that made a rare lot o’noise und give them a skull ake (ear defenders had not been invented then) und when the ground were a little dawby(wet) the bell got clogged up w’mud und din’t wark. I think in the end they took the bell orf und counted up to two between a droppin each potato down the tube.
Well them boys up a Carra Rood got the better of them Tractor Boys from over the border. I hent heard a lot from m’Brother since that happened. That look as if they may be a’gettin themselves back in with the big boys cum September. Still a lot can happen between now und the end o’the season.
I see the Government are allowin tractors t’go faster on the roods now und are allowin them t’pull bigger trailers. If they start a pullin heavier trailers that ull du the roads a’lot o’good. Last summer I see a Mawther from County Hall a sprayin a coloured line around sum pot holes near our house. I drawed out und hed a wud along with har. She recon that were so the repair team could see which holes they were t’repair when they cum round in a week or so time. Since the coloured lines hev disappeared und the pot holes hev got bigger und nobody hev been near nor by t’repair them.
Well I hed better get out inta the garden a’time thas fine. We ha got several shrubs in great old pots und we want t’get get them inta the ground afor they start a’shootin. That ull mean I wont hev s’meny pots t’water this year……… thas a’corse unless the Missus buy suffin else t’put in um.
Fare ye well t’getter und du yu keep a troshin.
The Boy Tom