Tag Archives: visit

Little Grey Fergie

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The title sounds like it should be the opening line of a pastoral poem or a well-loved folk song about a faithful little tractor, but as far as I know, nobody has written either. Who knows, after reading this someone may be enthused to do so.

I’m probably influenced by this song of my youth, though it isn’t about tractors.

Ah, it now looks like I’m going to have to eat my words. According to the internet there is a folk song, and a children’s TV series. It’s amazing what you can learn on the net.

They were also the first vehicles to reach the South Pole. As you can see from the picture, they were modified for the trip, but that’s definitely a Fergie snout poking out.

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The men in sheds are currently restoring a little grey Fergie. It looks to be in pretty good condition, with good tyres and quite a lot of good paint. The brackets for the mudguards have rusted and the hydraulics need attention but apart from skimming the cylinder head there is no major work to be done.

To put it another way – it was born in 1952 and despite being older than me has coped better with the ageing process.

We went to visit for tea and biscuits this morning, where I took the pictures. I’ll go back in a few weeks to take more and see if there is any progress.

Back to the grindstone

Today I have made notes of all the brilliant ideas we had in the car yesterday.

It’s not as long a list as it seemed yesterday, and not all the ideas look so good after a good night’s sleep, but it’s still quite a list, leading forward to events in September and November. I look forward to it with my customary cheerful optimism.

We are still waiting for the group that was supposed to come today, though at 15.53, after four calls to the leader and one to Head Office it is clear they aren’t going to show. Their minibus may have been abducted by aliens, it may even have been engulfed in flames in an awful accident: I won’t say too much until I know they are all safe.

What I will say is that we should start getting paid in advance.

Apart from that it’s been a fine day, and we had lunch under the awning that is still up from Open Farm Sunday.

We’ve had butterflies fluttering, finches flitting and baby blue tits cheeping. The chicks and keets have just been moved to the Men in Sheds barn because we can’t see their constant chirrups being conducive to yoga tomorrow. I’m not sure what the MiS will think on Friday when they arrive but as I’m planning to be in Sheffield I can’t say it’s a pressing concern.

Really, nothing much happened today. I’ve had my face stuck to a computer screen all day, despite saying I must get out more and after the group collected the eggs they mainly sat round feeling the heat.

Having been wintry last week, the sudden swerve to summer has caught us all out, though I’m told that the monsoon season starts on Friday. It will be good for the garden…