MORROWS WORLD

25 February 2000

MORROWS WORLD

DIARY FROM A FAMILY FARM IN ULSTER

ALL systems go" at Streamvale Open Farm now: Weve started calving, the new parlour is on line, the school children are arriving and were back to bottle feeding lambs and goats before bedtime. A new addition this year is the tour guides new uniform. After a long time debating possible styles we have gone for the old fashioned "bib and brace" which we can adjust to fit our various figures. In our search for comfortable and practical clothes, we realised that mens work wear is sized so that the bigger the bottom, the longer the leg – this does not necessarily follow for women. So we went for a system that allowed us to buy the hip size and just pull up the straps to adjust everything else. One good thing is, by the time we have all struggled in to the dungarees we are certainly warm enough to be outside even on the coldest morning!

As I predicted last month, the tour guides have indeed had to add the tales of Builder Bob to our school visits because there are still about 30 "Builder Bobs" around the yard. We have the parlour boys and the extra crew they brought to help get finished in time, the plumber boys (second team, as the first got the sack for not turning up on time), Timothys builders and Johnstons builders and last but not least the electricians. Each team has about three vans and vast quantities of equipment not to mention tea-making facilities. When I was a child, my mother used to threaten to take to the hills when things got too stressful, I think it would take a months holiday in the Himalayas to calm me down!

Speaking of my mum, the dreaded has eventually caught up with us and we can no longer look after her properly in her "Granny house" next door. She has had senile dementia for going on 6 years and we were very determined to keep her with us as long as possible, but the reality has caught up with us and her recent assessments made it impossible for me to fool myself any longer that I can cope. Shes currently in the local hospital after a fall and this time she will be moving into a nursing home when she is discharged. There is no easy way to grow old but surely dementia must be one of the worst. Having said that we have had some great times with mum next door as she still has a keen sense of humour and loves to make us laugh even if she hasnt a clue who we are, never mind what were laughing at!

Do those telephones "please press the star button now" drive you insane? I was trying to get some new ink for my computer last week and spent three quarters of an hour battling with such systems – I would need shorthand to keep up with the options. Inevitably when I get to my final destination I am greeted with the words "your call is in a queue and will be answered in order, please do not hang up". Next time I am buying something which may need after sales care I will choose the company with a real person answering the telephone.

All dressed up and raring to go: Judith

and the tour guides in their

new uniform.