3rd November - Bitter Sweets and Boar

Bitter Sweet Cider Apples

There are two forms of off-road vehicle available at the cottage. A seemingly bombproof Kia pride, donated years ago by my generous mother-in-law and a Toyota hilux recently given to me by S. Spoilt for choice you might think, but let me mention the slight limitations. The Kia despite being a good runner will wheel spin on the flat after a heavy dew and has little capacity. The hilux is unstoppable off-road but has a broken gearstick, flat tire, and two flat batteries. These points were given due consideration this morning as C and I tried to decide which vehicle we should take cider apple picking. Despite the sporadic rain of late laziness reigned supreme and around mid-morning Chris roared off in the Kia, down the long long slope whilst I followed on behind pushing G. The same laziness which often puts us in tricky situations, such as having a soon-to-be  laden town car sat at the bottom of a slippery half mile hill, also on occasion leads to innovative genius. Last year having picked the small bitter sweets from the ground and lower branches, we carted them bucketful by bucketful to the car boot. This year we laid out a large tarpaulin beneath a laden tree and as I stood back with the G, C whose proportions do not predispose him to the task, shinned up the trunk to begin thrashing and shaking like a silverback with a headache. It was a subtle blend of amusement and alarm which animated the baby's face as the heavens opened to rain down a terrific hailstorm of bright red apples. My face was all smiles.  This is the kind of daft thing which keeps life interesting and besides that, I knew the ‘Pride’ would be full to the gunwales in minutes. Slipping seamlessly from his role as tree shaker to rally driver, C was off again flogging the poor car which traversed the rough ground front end up and rear bumper dragging. There is a slight incline before the long ascent and using this C sent the Kia full tilt up the hill. I lost sight of him, but a dwindling groan from the broken exhaust, which finally stopped, told me he had been unsuccessful. Several more attempts had failed before I caught up and applied my shoulder to the sunken back. She crept forward, the wheels span uncontrollably and giving up C returned to the valley bottom, leaving me flecked with grass and mud. This time he picked a different route and thanks to an even quicker run-up than before propelled the vehicle in quite miraculous fashion right to the top of the slope's first section. The second was relatively easy and after three attempts he disappeared over the final brow only to reappear on foot with a smug smile on his face.

Mr C. up a Tree, S..H..A..K..I..N..G

About a month ago I shot three wild boar on Romney Marsh which were rooting up a friend's arable fields. On that night at least three others ran away and since then I've been back several times to look for them. Under normal circumstances I would advocate leaving a small, well-managed breeding population, but in an area such as the Marsh, where there is nothing but crop fields, any population would cause unacceptable damage. After the report of new routings yesterday, C and I headed down this evening to wait as the light faded. On inspection the rootings were rather light and a suspicion that they had been caused by badgers didn't leave us with much hope for success. By 5:30 PM it was pitch black and having seen nothing we made our way home. On another occasion I will describe the considerable pleasure of watching the sunset over the flat lands, the peregrine falcons which harry the ducks as they come in to feed and the marsh buntings which pipe from the reed beds. Not now though, but I shall simply note having seen a hare on the road before we reached Appledore and the onset of torrential rain which belted down and which, judging from the noise outside continues to do so.

Dinner

Bacon, mushroom and tomato sauce with pasta. Whilst I was out chasing boar, Em used the mushrooms I gathered yesterday to cook up a much welcome and hearty meal.