MORROWS WORLD
MORROWS WORLD
LAST week Johnston and I paid a visit to the first Farmers Market to be held in Belfast. I have read about them and their seeming success over in England so it was great to see that the idea has spread to this part of the world.
The whole event was very well supported and I dont know if it is generally felt, but to me there feels a
softening of opinion towards farmers more recently. Perhaps the whole French argument has in a strange way brought the British people behind their own farmers and their produce. I am not particularly political in either farming or general matters but it is clear even to me that farmers have not been "flavour of the decade" and while we like to view ourselves as the backbone of the economy, no one else considers us to be significant at all! Perhaps this upswing in public support is going to continue into the next century – no harm in hoping.
It is embarrassing to admit in farming circles, but at the height of the beef dispute our whole family were on holiday in Paris. We have not the reputation of being very adventurous at travelling, so this was a big deal for us to go abroad. Indeed as a family, it was our very first venture outside these islands. It is difficult to fit a big holiday into the summer season, even more so since our own children are working on the Open Farm. The autumn half term break suits us well.
Well, we "did" Paris in three days flat, including Disneyland! We were up the Eiffel Tower, round the Arc de Triumph, through the Champs Elysees, past the Mona Lisa, in and out of Churches and Cathedrals and as for Metro stations. I am sure we stopped in every one! We drank hot chocolate on pavement cafes, saw the city by night, watched the fantastic street performers and had the girls portraits sketched in the Place de Tetre.
Mind you, that wasnt part of the plan. We literally walked round a corner and within five minutes flat we were being asked for £45! Totally conned and too polite not to pay – but we did learn a lesson.
Our other traumatic
experience was losing Jenny and Amy in Disneyland. They abandoned one of the massive queues for a ride announcing they were going shopping and when asked where, said "the Disney Store". Well there must be 50 different Disney stores in the Park and Im sure I was in every one of them before we gave up and thought wed just see them at the end of the day.
As indeed we did – waving a little multi-coloured light tube in the hope of attracting our attention at the exit gates. As is typical of teenagers they seemed not to be at least fazed by the two-hour separation.
But it was interesting to hear that when Amy had come across two toddlers whinging at their parents she said to her sister, "I dont know what they are crying for, at least they have a family!" All in all it was great fun to have a break together and Johnston, who would not be a city slicker, even got himself and Jim back to the hotel to watch the Rugby World Cup, although they did say that it wasnt necessarily a direct route!