Back In The EU.

A heavy envelope arrived in the post last week.  I finally got round to applying for my Irish passport and it duly arrived in the post .  I am an Irish citizen and a dual citizen because I also hold a British passport.  This also means I am an EU citizen yet again.  Hurray!

I am a member of the EU again.  If I want to stay in the EU for up to six months I can do so or even work or retire  there.  Perhaps I will fulfil my dream and live in Portugal every Winter? Oh happy days!

I have yet to meet some one in Ireland that can see the sense in Brexit.  Not to forget the 30 Billion Pounds leaving bill that the UK needs to find in January.  All the lies and false promises. Even the Remainer Liz Truss wants to recruit workers back to the UK again, especially seasonal horticultural/agricultural workers

I see the Liberal Democrats and the SNP say they will campaign at the next General Election to rejoin the EU yet  Labour of all parties the party founded for the labourers won't be.  Do they not believe in free movement between our European neighbours?  We need to be island hopping with our European neighbours not  content with signing deals with the US and Australia.

Anyway if you  have a grandparent or parent born in Ireland or another EU country why not apply for a passport and become an EU citizen again?  Ten percent of the UK's population are  from an Irish background like myself.  

I feel like I beat Brexit on my own.  Well my dad helped a great deal with him being born here and so did Ireland especially the passport people.  Thanks!

Blasket Isles Seal Cubs.

My friend who accompanied me to the Blasket Isles and to Blighty sent me his photos of these seal cubs he took on the beach.

They are quite adorable and they lie on the beach all day while their mother cow seals watch from the water fishing and not too far away.

At night time a big bull seal  starts flubbering and flopping about and  they all eventually gathered on the beach and gave a Prog Rock Blasket Islands free concert all night serenading the sea and its surroundings.  It was an incredible experience.

Have you heard Animals album  by Pink Floyd? Well if they recorded a Maritime version they could write a mega long track called Seals.  What a performance!  

Sunbathing on the beach whilst mum goes for a swim and catch some fish.  

Christmas Starts Earlier Every Year In The Shops.

 It's the 24th of September and I went shopping today.  Look what I found already:

I know.  We have bought most of our Christmas 🎄 presents already have you?

What you eating for Christmas Dinner?  One year we had curry.  This year me thinks it will be steak and an all day buffet again.  Merry Christmas 🤶. 

More Pictures From The Ploughing.

Heaving with people.  Crowds everywhere.

Pedigree Aberdeen Angus.

This lass had twins.

More vintage and modern 🚜  ploughing.

Derek Ryan and his band entertaining the the crowd and some even line danced.

Pedigree Hereford.

It was a good day with biblical multitudes.  Like when I went to Glastonbury in 1989.   It was like Glastonbury with tractors!  I like that.
 

A Trip To The National Ploughing Competition.

Anyone for Poteen?

A toe nail trimmer.

Lister engine.

I have got one of those.

Just like my Anna Ford.

An American visitor.

 It  was like Glastonbury music festival  with vintage tractors..

I finally managed to get to the ploughing championships both Irish and World this year.  115,500 attended yesterday including yours truly.

Biblical like multitudes descend on the site but the majority of people go for the trade stands.   Oh to have lots of money 💰 to buy all these things like diggers and everything what any smallholder, big farmer, country dweller wants.

We set off at 5 and endured some very long traffic jams several miles from the ploughing   We got there at 9.20 and I wandered round on my Jack Jones for 3 hours until my phone starting ringing and I made my way through the world and wife crowds and found them waiting at the beer tent.  I only had a pint of Heineken for 6 Euros fifty.  

Hope you like photos of my vintage tractor 🚜 friends?

What do you call someone who use to like tractors and doesn't any more?  An extractor fan.

More photos from the ploughing tomorrow.

Newly Hatched Hen Chicks.

 We bought an electric egg incubator about a month ago.  Number one son bought some fertilised eggs for ten Bob (50 Cents) each.

On Sunday they started hatching and making chirpy cheep cheep noises.

Up to now we have eight newly hatched hen chick's.  They are beautiful.  Old Mother Nature played a blinder yet again.

Two day old hen chick's.

Sorry it's took on it's side.

Newly hatched and very chatty 

Have you ever hatched hens or ducks?  What did you feed your day old chick's?

Tiger Kitty is trying her best to catch the new chick's on their heat pad in the cupboard next to the range. The oil range isn't warm not for a while yet.  

 Have you thought about lighting your fire in the front room yet?  We are leaving it for a bit longer and saving the wood.

"Are You A Geordie?"

 The night before the music festival in Oxfordshire we had to find somewhere to pitch our tents for the night.   We found a site at top of the road and asked the farmer/campsite proprietor if we could pay to camp for the tonight? 

He reminded me of a typical West Cork farmer.  He was more interested in us and whether we were interested in him.   

We put the world to rights for ten minutes or so and he asked us what the BBC initials stood for? Before we could reply he said: " The bullsh*t broadcasting company". We laughed and he laughed and we had found another character on our travels.

I asked him if he would be going to watch any of the bands at the music festival?  He said if Gene Pitney or Roy Orbison was playing he would have gone.  He didn't like the modern music on the radio today and most of the artists can't sing!

He picked up on my North country accent and said to me: "Are you a Geordie?"

My friend and me laughed again and I said: "No Lancastrian."  Perhaps he knew I love bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale?

Then we asked him if we could pitch our tent for the  night.  "Ok lads.  But you won't wreck the bathroom will you? I spent a lot of money fitting that out".  We had no problems paying cash at this campsite unlike some of the other one's we stayed at.  He didn't ask for contactless payments.  

We laughed again and we spent another twenty minutes in the morning leaning on a farm gate talking to our new found farmer friend putting the world to right and laughing