Notes from the country with Vicky Turrell

Robin on my teacup, Country Calendar - November Part 2 - The thieving rat

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- November 24, 2021

Watch out it's that time of year again!

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The dangers of living in the country

- October 01, 2010

I know that you might think that living in the country we do not get to see people very much. And it is true that I cannot walk out of my door and have a natter with a next door neighbour and I can’t just pop in to a cafe and catch up with friends who happen to be there. But you would be surprised how often I do meet up with friends – it’s just that you have to make more of an effort and it all has to be arranged and planned and when we do meet – we never stop taking – you see there is so much to say after only having our pets for company. Well, anyway, I am trying to tell you about what happened last night. Now the nights are drawing in we all agreed to meet up for an evening meal in our nearest town to cheer ourselves up. I offered to pick up a friend in a nearby village and drive to the nearest town miles away. What a good time we had catching up on news and ... well, just talking to a person and not a cat or bees or the like. But at the end of the evening I was dismayed to find tha...

Moving into autumn

- November 03, 2024

‘Come and join us after your Saturday shopping. Our autumn concert is at the civilised hour of 3.30pm.’ That is a good idea, I thought, because although I would not be shopping on Saturday, mid-afternoon is a good time for a concert for me. All too often shows are late evening and these days of darker nights I do not want to turn out on a cold evening, so I give it a miss. Luckily, we arrived near the door just in time but there was a long queue and we shuffled along, hoping to get out of the wind. But once at the pay desk our luck ran out. Payment was by cash only. I usually pay with my mobile and neither of us had cash. We were not alone and Mr T joined several others making a dash for the town’s cashpoints. These days you usually advertise ‘cash only’. I have seen some shops do it, but not so long ago cash was the usual way to pay. Now cards and mobiles have taken over. And the mobile is not just used for paying, I noticed one or two people reading their screens when the choir...

Rubbish

- November 10, 2024

I have had an email from Shropshire Council. ‘You will need to book a slot if you want to take waste and recycling to one of our centres’. It goes on to say that I will have to supply ID and my car number plate. I must ring up or fill in a form online before I arrive. All this is to make sure we do not have to wait in a queue, but we just turned up last week and there was hardly anyone there. The staff were helpful and we soon finished. Mind you it will stop out of county people coming and reduce trade waste, they say. So, we will have to make an appointment to get rid of rubbish from now on. What a procedure it will be, almost like getting a doctor’s appointment. All this is a far cry from how we got rid of our rubbish when I was young and living on the farm. Of course, there was little waste, as we grew all our own fruit and vegetables and had our own meat. But eventually we bought tins of golden syrup and jars of marmite. There was no wrapping paper and so ...