The story of a young mans efforts to become a farmer without the aid of inheritance!
Whilst Foot & Mouth ravaged the British Countryside, I kept in close telephone contact with my uncle. We daren't visit nor did they want us too for fear of bringing F&M onto their farm. It came close to the farm, but thank god did not infect their herd. They were the lucky ones.
It was only afterwards that I really understood the true losses that those with cloven hooved animals suffered. The loss of a lifetimes work. Building those herds and flocks. What have those farmers left. For those who were over forty and taken 20 years to breed that herd or flock to perfection, they would have to start again. They would only just get to were they where when Foot & Mouth struck when they should have been taking life a little easier and enjoying the fruits of their labours.
However, as Foot and Mouth changed so many lives we had our own life changing moment. After a six month battle for life our son died in our arms at Great Ormond Street Hospital. God Bless Him.
It's something I wouldn't wish on anyone, but if you ever need Great Ormond Street Hospital It's a fantastic place. Not only the staff but the patients too. So many youngsters seriously ill but so few tainted by adult meloncoly. An inspiration to us all.
Whilst we had all this time in hospital to think, we had had some great support from the nursing staff that "*** is what nature intended" and our son needed the best. Something our local hospital had tried to prevent.
All this made me seriously wonder about what we eat and how we live our lives.
We did make a lot of our own food from scratch but we were eating a lot of take-aways and using cheaper basic ingredients. Possibly produced by intense farming practices, quite likely from outside the UK.
Added to that was the fact that I took part in a drugs trial as a child. No. Not the usual teenage drugs. You cynics. As a teenager I had severe acne which at the time was very unpleasant to say the least. It also wasn't a great turn on for the girls either.
At 14 I ws asked if I wantd to keep this painful almost disfiguring condition or take this new wonder drug that would 'Dry Up' my skin. Not a particularly difficult decisionfor a young testosterone filled man trying desperatly to attract the opposite sex.
However the drugs had a touch of the Ronseal's about it. "It did exactly what it said on the tin." It dried up my sin. Permanently. They reduced the dose by 50% after the trial. Too late for me. I now have a knock on condition which I will have to live with for the rest of my life. So as you can see this has made me very wary of drugs companies.
I 'm not totally against GM. I do think that we are right to explore science but we should not rush in to the magical cure. Be wary. Science could solve the problems of ensuing food shortages. But one wrong move could make the problem 100 times worse.
We need to be sure that once we have unleashed science on to the world that we know what the consequences will be.
What I learn't in that hospital whilst trying to do the best for my son was that when you use science to combat one thing you usually need two more things to counter the consequences of the decision you have just made.
We need science. Science should not rule the world though. Education should do that. Be honest and teach the world the possible consequences of new science.
After our son died we went away, back to North Yorkshire to grieve in peace and to gather our thoughts and get ready to face the world again. The pires still burned and the countryside was earily quiet. This was the first chance we had had to witness the impact of Foot & Mouth first hand.
It was awful. Farming at that time was enticing nobody..
The story of a young mans efforts to become a farmer without the aid of inheritance!
We ended the last blog with me proposing to the lady that I loved.
Would the beautiful countryside persuade her? The sound of sheep bleating nearby baa sweet nothings in her ear? Would the roaring fire of the Kings Head in February melt her heart? Or just my charm and enviable wit?
I'm not sure which it was? I didn't ask either, I didn't want to shatter the illusion, I was happy.
The lady from Del Monte, she said Yes.
So ever the practical person the next question was "Did she want to get married straight away or find somewhere to live and buy a house?"
So we bought a house. We should have bought a small farm but we didn't think of it then. We probably would have been able to afford it then as well.
We then started to save for our Wedding. I was determined it was going to be a fabulous day, but that we weren't going to pay for it until our silver wedding anniversary.
Before you ask, no I'm not Scots or a Yorkshireman. But you can see the farming traits can't you!
We had a wonderful day. Glorious sunshine, fabulous family and delightful friends helped us celebrate. It was a truly great day but it went ever so fast.
We had a London Red Bus to ferry guests from their hotel to the church and then onto the reception. Very eco-friendly for the late nineties. That's not why we did it though! No. We didn't want the guests holding up the wedding getting lost on the wrong side of the dual carriageway! However the wife's cousin managed to go to the wrong golf club (15 miles away) for the reception despite having lived in the area for years. She enjoyed the desert though. The wedding didn't cost us the earth; it did cost my father-in-law a bit though.
Anyway, we were both working in media and were into the daily grind of commuting and paying off the mortgage.
For those of you from the countryside, uninitiated in the joys of London Tube and Train commuting, be grateful of your one bus an hour. Because of its lack of frequency nobody wants to use that one Bus. Which means if it coincides with you're Need to take a journey by public transport at least you get a seat...
If train drivers had to comply with the "Transport of Animals" legislature the country would grind to a halt. That's another blog though, I digress.
No, no, no don't start having a go at me. I can feel you're seethings through the web page. Have you not worked out I like irony yet. See, another farming trait.
We both learn't Spanish and were very much into Spain. Taking our holidays off the beaten tourists track and improving our language. On our Honeymoon we arrived in a mountain village of southern Spain at 10pm, just after a terrific thunderstorm. We found the café where we were to collect the keys was closed. Nobody spoke English.
I had to use my best Spanish to get us a bed for the night. Mobile phones didn't work in the village. But because I had at least made an attempt with my language the locals couldn't have been more helpful. One lady allowed me to use her telephone to call the caretaker to bring us another set of keys. By the following morning everyone in the village knew who we were. Minor celebrities.
We even thought of buying somewhere out there.
Twelve months after we had got married came the inevitable pitter-patter of tiny feet. A wonderful time, joyous.
Shortly followed by the disaster of Foot & Mouth. We didn't have time to worry about Foot & Mouth though. Our child was seriously ill!