TV and shopping. It’s hardly the Cigarettes and Alcohol you promised yourself as a young man is it? (To be honest Milk and Alcohol is probably more my sound, and era, but it didn’t have the right ring to it – such are the compromises we make…)

If you are sensible, or a woman, you may have had other ambitions. Though I’m not sure that a desire for TV and shopping really qualifies as an ambition.

What do you do if your life is so dull that even you yawn when you’re writing about it? As I just did.

Tell lies, I suppose. I did see an article a while back claiming that the top lie people tell on blogs to make themselves more interesting is the “spontaneous weekend trip” lie, when the top truthful weekend activities are – you guessed it – TV and shopping.

Going on a trip at the weekend makes you look more interesting? It’s not setting the bar very high is it? Last weekend I fulfilled an ambition by driving a Formula Ford racing car. Next month I will be participating in a “chicken dispatch course” as they call themselves these days.  It’s a course to teach people how to kill chickens and then dress or bone them.

Much more scratching in that bed and they may well end up trussed and drawn…

Both lies, of course. Last weekend I worked and shopped and watched TV. Next month I will, in all likelihood, be working, shopping and watching TV.

Not total lies, though. In 1976 I was taught how to kill and dress poultry as part of my first job and in 1978 I did drive a Formula Ford car. It wasn’t as much fun as I had thought and when I worked the foot pedals my feet lifted the nose cone in a most disconcerting manner.

I did start off with the intention of being dismissive about people who lied about going away for the weekend, but now I’ve proved that my lies are actually rooted in the 1970s (was it really that long since I did anything remotely out of the ordinary?) I’m on shaky ground. When I go on to say that I haven’t been on a trip since November last year when we had four days away to celebrate 25 years of marriage, I merely make things worse.

However, there is always a bright side. This morning I went to Melton Mowbray to collect baking supplies. It was a beautiful day in the Vale of Belvoir (pronounced Beaver, no I don’t know why), the sun was out, the cows were out eating luxurious grass to make Stilton cheese and all was right in the world.

Once I got to the office, with a list of outdoor jobs to do, including planting and cutting, I made the mistake of checking my emails. I’ve been stuck inside since then, partly coping with the emails that were there and partly coping with the ones I’d been putting off for the last week.

So that’s how a blog that should be about the great outdoors turned into one about tedium, and how a blog about life on Care Farm seems to be turning into one about my life.

Sorry about that, I will try harder in future posts, but until then this is all I have to offer. How’s your life going?