Missing Month
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Tag: 2014
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The Boy Tom – June 2014
Missing Month
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The Boy Tom – July 2014
I hant had a wud along w’yu leartly cos I bin suffin busy. Thas bin the yar end with that little job I du in the village und the Missus und I hev bin away in our caravan. We ha’a go to a weddin in the Lake District so we thought we’d stay arter that were over und hev a look round. That were a job a gettin there, I thought the old M25 were bad enough but the M62 & M6 near Manchester ha got that beat. The Missus din’t ha’a du a lot o’map reading cos we got one o’them sat.nat things so she spent har time “a keepin the car on the rood”. I told har , “She’ed be suffin clever if she could, cos I hed hold o’the steerin wheel”.
When we got there we park the old caravan on a farm wth a’few sheep t’keep us company. The farmer recon they hed 1500 ewes, They hed all lambed und were turned out onta the fells. They get um back down t’shear um and wean the lambs in the Autumn. They only grow grass up there cos there arnt to many flat fields where yu could get a plough in.
I got wrong orf the Missus cos I kept a garping over the stone walls while I was a drivin und kept a gettin her side of the car to clus t’the wall on har side o’the rood.
One o’our boys und his family were a’stayin up there un all. when we drawed round t’see um they asked us if we’d like t’go for a walk t’see sum waterfalls. Our Boy recon that were only “4 miles”. Well Bor that were the longest 4 miles I’v ever walked: that took 3 hours. I recon that were 4 miles on the flat but w’all that climbin up & down on them footpaths I recon we did ni on 8 miles. Our boy recon he knew where we were cos he ha got one o’them GSP things. That nearly did the Missus in, she ha’a hev a rest once or twice. I say t’her “U’ll ha’a keep a goin cos I’ll never get a wheel barra up here t’get u out”. Still the waterfalls were worth sein and there were a good place for sum foursers (tea & cake)at the end.
Since I last wrote them old crops around here hev grown suffin fast. The old winter barley thas in ear already(late May they recon thas 6 weeks from ear to shear(combine).The oil seed rape thas a dun flowering, so that’ll be early und all und the old sugar beet thas a meetin acroos the rows about 4 weeks early un all.
Thas the same w’things in the garden, I hev got sweet peas in flower und the grass seem t’want t’be cut every other day. But hold you hard, like I ha sed afor Old Mother Nature can blow hot und cold so don’t start a talkin about an early harvest just yet cos you never know what weather she ha got for us just round the corner.
One o’our boys is a gettin married now soon. He hed his stag night tuther night in Norridge. I drawd along for a bit o’golf und a bite t’eat but when they started a dressin him up in a woman’s dress with a coloured wig afor they went inta a pub I regon that were time t’draw on home. I rung him up the next day und he seemed alright. He recon his brother hed looked arter him!
A’time yu read this tha’ll a’dun celibratin the 70 years since D-Day. I ha bin t’them beaches in France where they landed. I won’t want to h’run acroos them und up the dunes a carryin my kit with-out what the Germans were a hullin at them. We’r also a remembering the Great War un all. Next time yu go past the Church du yu stop und read the names on the War Memorial. Thas true what they say: “They gave their tomorrow for our today”.
Fare ye well t’gether und du yu keep a’troshin
I recon when yu are a readin this them old combines will be a’goin. I hev seen one a’goin already (2nd week July) but that were cuttin sum oil seed rape. When thas ready they’ll be a gettin inta the winter barley and arter that the wheat. I hev been asked how farmers know when the corn is ready t’cut. Fustly that ha’a changed colour from green to gold/yella all the way t’the ground, then yu should be able t’rub the grains outa the head by hand und check that the grain is hard by a biting it with yar teeth. Yu ha’a be suffin careful a doin this cos yu can break a tooth; I did several year ago. Afor the combine go the farmers test that the moisture level hev dropped down to 16% or lower, any higher than this und they ha’a start the crop old drier up und that’ll cost money.
Years ago yu could tell when barley were gettin fit cos when the grains in the head became hard und dry the weight would bend the grain head over und this action would cause the neck to break or crack. On a still warm day yu could stand a’side a field o’barley und hear the necks o’barley a crackin over.
There hev bin a’lot in the pearper und on the TV leatly about parents bein fined for takin their younguns outa school durin term time. I were a talkin to my Brother about that tuther day und we recon that would a’cost our Father a lot o’money hed that rule been in when we were at school. Cos we always hed a family holiday afor harvest started we recon that we hardly ever attended the last week o’the summer term. Another thing our Father said was “allus to go away when yu on holiday cos if yun don’t they’ll cum arter yu for suffin”. Once years leater when I were a Farm Foreman I started my holiday on the Saturday morning but did not go away. About 11 o’clock on the Saturday night the Boss rung up sayin there were a cow a calvin with twins und could I go und help the vet get um out. Acoos I went und helped.At about 2am on the Sunday morning while I were still a’helpin I remembered what my Father hed said.
I hev been a watchin the World Cup football. I got suffin savage when I saw then players a rolling about pretendin their hurt. I say t’the Missus “ they want t’be kicked by an old Highland Cow, that’ll meake um roll about a’bit”. The trouble is the younguns see um a’doin that und copy um when they play.
The Missus und I hev bin to the Hampton Court Flower Show. We hed bin a thingkin about a goin to the Chelsea Flower Show but the Missus recon,if we went, she’d see if she could leave me there with them old Chelsea Pensioners.
We hed a good look round at the Hampton Court Show. My hart they must’a spent a rare lot o’time a gettin them gardens & plants ready. I hed a good look but I could unt see a weed any where. They were showing a master crop of vegetables on one o’the outside plots which hant bin attacked by pigeons or slugs.
We din’t buy anything cos if we did the Missus would ha wanted t’buy one o’them little barra things to cart the plants around in all day: the only colour they did um in were pink
Fare ye well t’gether und du yu keep a’troshin.
Thas’a rummun but I forgot all about the Norfolk Show the last time I were a’havin a mardle a’long w’yar. I were there on the fust day a helpin on the Rare Breed Stand. Durin the mornin the lady in charge cum t’me und say that the Show Presidant (The Earl of Wessix) were a comin to visit the stand that arternoon und she wanted me t’meet him. Well Bor I were all of a muck wash cos I never met anybody as important as him afor. I wernt a’wearin a tie und I’d ha’a wash m’hands before I shook his hand. How sum ever a’little arter two away he cum. The head lady met him outside the tent and then bought him in t’meet us. He asked me why I were interested in the Rare Breeds . He listened t’what I were a tellin him: I’ll tell yar suffin though, there int a lot of him… he look as if he could du with a good feed. He stayed with us a lookin round longer than he should, them who were in charge of a’gettin him round the show ground started bussin around like flies on a middun (muck heap). They got him away 10 minutes arter he should hev left.
We hed a good number o’youngsters acomin round askin us questions about the 28 different rare breeds we hed on show. I were a leadin sheep around a little ring we hed set up while the head lady were talkin about them. That were good t’be a leadin sheep in a show ring again though I left leadin the cattle t’them who were younger than me. the last time I led a cow in the show ring were a’few year ago. That were a job cause the cow I were a’leadin were a bullin (on heat). I ha’a keep a goin cos that were the grand parade und there were a few Bulls in the ring as well.
She nearly pulled my arms outa their sockets and cos she were a Highland I hed t’watch her horns und all t’make sure she din’t poke m’eye out. I managed t’get har round the ring und back t’har stall again but that knocked the stuffin out o’me I can tell yu.
I know that since I last had a wud along with yar we hev had a rare drop o’rain in places but that han’t stopped them old combines a gettin on. They seem t’be gettin inta the crops about a fortnight early. A time I am a writin this (Early August) their already cuttin wheat . They tell me that the crops are yieldin well but prices are down on account of there bein good yields over the water.
As soon as them old combines are outa the field there’s a baler a’goin balin up the straw. Most o’the straw in the village seem t’be baled up und used for littering stock in the winter or go t’be burnt at one o’them power stations. That don’t seem that long a’go when a’lot of the straw were burnt in the field.
I remember one harvest in 1976 or 78 when that were suffin hot und there were stubble fires every where. I were a warkin at home one arternoon when the Missus cum in und recon she could smell a fire real close. I drawed up the road t’where an old lady (Mrs Williamson) lived. There where sum smoke a cummin from the back o’har house. I went und hed a look und see her shud were a’fire. Mrs Williamson were a’standin there, she recon that she were a burnin sum papers und sum hed been blown inta har shed. a’settin it a’fire. I scrapped about und phoned the fire brigade. The Mawther who answered reconned all the fire engines were out arter stubble fires und could I see if I could control the fire until they could git a’engine there.
The Farmer from acrors the road he come over with a couple o’buckets und we started hullin water from water butts onta the burnin shud. Mrs Williams told us not t’get to close cus there were a’can o’petrol in the shud. No sooner hed she said that there were a hell of a bang….. the shud roof went up und the sides fell in. The sparks from the shud were a settin fire t’the dry grass in the garden. We were a’scrappin about hullin water tryin t’stop the fire a’spreadin t’har house. We were gettin suffin short o’water when the Watton Fire engine tunned up und put the fire out.
That were suffin hot tuther day when I were warkin in the greenhouse. When I drawed indoors for m’grub, the Missus recon my face were suffin red. I say thas corse I bin a workin in the greenhouse und the sun hev turned me red just like a’tomato……. she din’t say anything………..she just gi’me one of har looks.
Fare ye well t’gether und du yu keep a’troshin
Well thas nearly “ safety gathered in”(early September) Thas the harvest I’m a talkin about, und thas finished suffin early this year. Ridin about I hev seen a field or two o’Wheat that still want a’cuttin und the Young Master up at the Hall hev still got a field uf Beans t’get in.
I were a thinkin about the different sizes o’bales o’straw yu see about now, thes round uns unds und them brick shaped ones from little uns yu could pick up by hand right through to them gret old big uns that hev nearly 15cwt (750kilos) o’straw jammed in um.
I recollect we hed round bales back in the 1950’s. They were little doddy things. A firm called Allis Chalmers ,from America, bought over a baler that made little round bales. The Farmer where m’Father warked he hed one. As far as I can remember they only used it t’meak hay bales. That hed it’s own engine t’drive it und it hed a lot o’wide belts t’roll the hay inta a round bale. When they were carted t’the barn they took sum stackin cos yu could’unt get um bound tight agin one another. When yu were a stackin little brick shaped bales yu could build them up just like a house wall und bind um it tight. Yu could unt du this with them round bales und a lot o stacks made with um fell over. I think m’Father only used the Allis baler for one year cos another fault with um was if the belts wernt adjusted right they got hot und were likely t’fly a’fire und melt.
A’for them handling systems cum out all the bale cartin were dun by hand. That took two on u t’lift one o’them little brick shaped bales onta a trailer when that got high, Yu looked t’make the load 12 to 14 layers high. When yu went to hull the bale onta the load two on yu stood with yar back t’the load, one on yu ha’a work right handed und one on yu ha’a work left handed. That were handy if yu were both the same height und yar fork shafts were the same length. Yu both drive yar fork tines inta the bale und then yu lifted the bale up und back over yar head inta the load. That wark were part o’whot sum folks, who hev never dun any straw cartin, call “The Good Old Days”!!
They started a’usin them big round balers in the late 1970s. A firm called Farm Hand who hed a place near Wymondham got sum on um over from America. Another thing they bought over, about the same time, were a gret old machine that looked like a round tub on wheels. They called it a Tub Grinder. Yu could drop one of them gret old round bales inta it und teeth in the bottom of the tub would grind up the straw so that could be mixed with silage, Sugar Beet Pulp und Concentrates in a feeder wagon t’be fed to cattle und sheep. They called the mixed feed a Totally Mixed Ration, or TMR for short. They are a’still feedin cattle with TMR rations t’day. All they were a’doin were copying what farmers hed bin a doin for years on the barn floor. They used t’cut straw up through a Chaff Cutter und slice up Mangolds or Turnips on another machine, these machines were often turned by hand. That were hard werk I can tell yar. Yu’ed meake a heap on the barn floor with the chaff, sliced Mangolds/Turnips und sum suger beet pulp und rolled barley. Yu’ed then mix this lot up with a shovel und cart it by hand in a bushel skep und feed it t’the cattle they kept in the bullock yards durin the winter. Yu ha’a go inta the yard with the cattle t’feed um. That’d keep yu suffin warm if u’d got 20 or 30 head o’cattle t’feed every day (includin Saturdays und Sundays)
Well the old football hev kicked orf agin. Mr Adams und them boys up at Carra Rood hev meade a good start though thas a long way till next May. At least they hev beaton them old Tractor Boys . My Bother recon he support them, he lived in Suffolk for a bit, but when yu ask him he dont seem t’know much about who’s a’playin for um. He hant been sayin a lot since Norwich beat um.
Things are a’startin t’slow up in the old garden. Thas bin a long growin season cos a lot o’plants never really hed a rest as last winter were s’mild. The Missus recon we could du with a harder winter this year t’give things in the garden a rest. I say “Can I hev a rest un all if we get a hard winter”. She din’t say anything…… She just gi’me one o’har looks.
Fare ye well t’gether und du yu keep a troshin.
Missing Month
How are yu all a’gettin on t’gether? thas been a rum year . Old Mother Nature seem t’hev got harself all in a muckwash. Here we are in the middle uf November und the roses ha still got buds on und theres a lot o’leaves still a hangin on the trees . I see a bee a flyin about last week… their normally tucked up in their hive a’keepin the awaitin for next spring. Still as I hev said afor Mother Nature hev away o’gettin things right….so we could still hev a hard winter. As I recollect the autumn of 1962 wernt to bad until we got t’between Christmas und the New Year und then the land froz up und we did’t du any land wark until March/April time.
Since I last hed a word along w’yu the Missus und I hev been over the water agin w’our caravan. We went und hed a look at Austria und Bavaria. We had a go at drivin along them German Motorways. There wernt any speed limit on sum o’the ones we driv along. My heart they don’t half crowd their old cars along. I were a’takin it nice und steady cos we were a’pullin the caravan behind when sum fella cum past us a’drivin a gret old Mercedes with a caravan behind. My heart he were a’goin und the caravan were a bobbin about behind the car. I say t’the Missus “ I bet he don’t hev t’buy new tyre for his caravan very orften cos their only a’touchin the rood every half mile or so”.
I hev told yu afor about the Missus a’doin har family tree. When we were a cummin back from Austria we stopped for a few days near the Somme so we could go und find sum names she hed found on har family tree. Fust we went to the Thiepval Memorial. Thas a gret old memorial with the names o’sum Seventy Two Thousand solders carved on it who hev no known grave. We found the names the Missus were alookin for und then we drawed up the road t’a cemetery where we found the grave of har Great Uncle. The Missus recon that she may be the fust member of har family t’visit has grave. That meake yu think when yu are a drivin about that area o’France cos yu cum acroos memorials und grave yards every mile or so. They arn’t just for British solders cos most o’the Commonwealth Countries sent solders t’fight un all.
I know none on us recon we are a’gettin older. But I were a’thinkin about that tuther day when I were a’warkin in the garden . I were a barrowin compost around the garden und that take me longer than that did a few year a’go. I don’t move su quick und I notice that I don’t fill the old barra as full as I used to. A few year ago afor I retired from the place where I warked part o’my job were t’look arter a flock o’sheep. The head lady o’the establishment cum t’see me one day und asked me if I hed any problems a’lookin arter the sheep. I told har no but I hed noticed one thing, “ at every lambin time when I wanted t’catch an old ewe they seemed t’be runnin a bit quicker” The head lady dint say anything…she just gi me a funny old look,…… that were a bit like the one the Missus gi me sum times.
There a’gettin them old sugar beet out and away t’the factory. They arnt long a’gettin the field tunned over und a drillin the next crop. Years ago that used t’be done a bit slower, for one thing the harvesters wernt s’big und most farmers hev sum cattle t’feed the sugar beet tops to. T’day the harvesters just flail um orf but when the tops were saved the harvesters left them in rows acroos the fields. Yu ha’a let them wilt a bit cos if yu fed um to green that used t’upset the old cows stomachs.(M’Mother allus reconned she knew when their started feedin the cows beet tops cos she could taste it in the milk!) Arter the tops had wilted then yu went inta the field with a tractor und trailer und hulled the tops onta the cart. That were hard work on a Friday yu ha’a load up enough tops t’feed t’the cattle on Saturday und Sunday.
As I ride about I see sum farmers hev sheep grazin orf the beet tops but there arnt as meny of them as there used t’be.
I were a’readin in the peaper tuther day that there wont be s’many beet grown in the next year or two. They recon there’s to much sugar in storage in Europe and the company who buy the beet orf the farmers arnt a goin t’pay them s’much . That seem a rummin t’me that there are folk in the world a goin short o’food und yet that seem as it nobody hev thought o’gettin sum o’this sugar t’them.
Less hope them boys up at Carra Rood meake a New Years resolution t’play better football in 2015 cos if they don’t they wont be playin with the big boys next season und the “Tractor Boys” (Ipswich) might finish above um in the league.
As this is the last time I will be havin a wud along wth yu in 2014 the Missus joins me in wishing yu all the best for Christmas und the New Year.
Fare ye well t’gether und remember for 2015… Du yu keep a’troshin.
Well we’r started agin…..thas another New Year. There’s sum on um who han’t hed a good start. There’s them who lorst their homes when that tempist und sea come onta the land around the coast afor Christmas and there’s them who hev had their homes flooded since the tun o’the year.
Corse all this rain ha made that a job a’gettin about on the land. Most farmers ha got them old beet out of the ground, but instead of worrying about them old beet gettin frorsted afor they get carted to the factory, this year, acors thas so mild their a’worrying about them old beet a heatin up und rotting away. When a lot of farmers were a keepin cattle yu ha’a get inta the land to cart beet tops orf t’feed them. That were a job when the old ground were dawby, I remember once a gettin stuck with a tractor und trailer load o’beet tops, that took another two tractors yoked up t’gether t’pull me out.
I ha got one o’them new tablet computas, that seem a rum name t’call a computa. I know their small but t’me a tablet is suffin you swalla with a drop o’water. The Missus ha given me a thing that look like a pen, only that aint, thas got a rubber end und she tell me, cors I ha got big hands, that I ha gotta use it t’touch the screen t’get it a’goin, that seem t’wark. I told the Missus, I were a goin t’try it on my old bike t’see if that’ll it a’goin any quicker…she din’d say anything….. she just gi me one o’her looks.
Them boys up at Carra Rood will ha’a get goin a bit if they are t’stay up with the big boys. At least them in charge han’t dun like a lot of other clubs and got rid of the manager. Sum of them owners want instant results. That remind me of a man who thought that if he bought up all the best Sheep of a certain breed he’d win all the classes when he showed them at the summer shows. That dint wark cos he dint hev time t’get t’know the sheep afor he took them inta the ring t’show um…. they hant become a team.
Cos thas bin s’mild so far this winter(early January) sum o’my old roses hev still got buds on und m’old hins are still a’layin. Still there still be time for the weather t’turn cold. A lot o’plants hev got to go through a dormant stage a’for they start a’goin agin in the Spring. They sorta hibinate, I wish I could du that sum times when the Missus keep a findin jobs for me t’du.
I agoin t’close now cus the Editor recon he h’a got a lot t’crowd in this month.
Fair ye well t’gether und du yu keep a troshin
Missing Month
Well I ha’a scrap round t’git this mardle dun afor the dead line. I recon thas a cos o’this warm weather (mid March)mean I ha bin a warkin in the gardin all day. When I draw back in doors I ha bin to warn out t’git me old computa out. I told the Missus, if this warm weather keep a’goin I’m a goin t’teak my old string vest orf now instead o’waitin til the 1st April………She dint say anything….she just gi me one o’har looks.
I hant bin a gettin things to forad in the garden cos old mother nature have a nasty habit of catchin you out. Thas bin a wet winter but this bit o’sun und wind hev dried the old land out. I see a tractor a’pullin sum land down tuther day and there were sum dust a’blowin behind it. That seem a rummin but we ha got Catkins, Primroses und Daffodils all a showin at the same time. As I hev said afor old mother nature could still send us sum cold weather that could nip orf all the new shoots.
Farmers a lambin sheep will be suffin pleased t’see this warm weather. Most on um will hev the sheep inside t’lamb but arter the lambs are born thy’ll want t’git them und their mothers out onta grass as soon as possible. There’s nothin worse than havin the weather tun bad once yu tuned them out. The little old lambs ull get cold und wet, even if the old ewe is givin plenty o’milk, any weak lambs will soon become tucked up. The thing is once the ewes und lambs are tunned out that ull du them more harm than good if yu bring um back in agin,….. even it yu hed the room.
I know yu shount look back…. but I were a havin a look at a Norfolk Young Farmers year book for 1964. Yis I am in it . What I were a lookin at were the advertisements by local agricultural firms. There were thirty one on um. Only four on um are still a’goin fifty year later. One on um sell cars now, one’s in Insurance, another is a Builder und the last an Auctioneer, who my Missus’s Father warked for, thar still agoin although they dont hev any weekly livestock markets. All them firms provided wark. What that du show is how Norfolk farms hev got bigger und livestock hev disappeared.
Them boys up a Carra Rood seem t’be a hangin on, they seem t’be a meakin a rear job on it though. I recon even if they du keep up w’the big boys there’ll be new new man in charge cum September.
They tell me they want sum more help on the Millennium Green in the village. Sum folk hev left the committee. The Green is well established and is a growin livin thing. You ha got t’give Mother Nature a hand sum time. There must be sum on yar who could lend a’hand so we can pass the Green onta the next generation.
Fare ye well t’gether und du yu keep a troshin.
Missing Month