MRS DOWN'S DIARY

"I just want an old cloth to clean the combine windows," he said. "I think we might have a go whilst there is a chance of sunshine. They've forecast heavy rain again tomorrow and whatever moisture content it is, we've got to get the barley in."

True we have a lovely blue sky. More than enough, as my Mum used to say, "to make a cat a pair of pants" '“ always her measure of whether it was going to be a fine day or not. And it has continued to shine, with the barley moisture content dropping from 20 to 18 per cent over the day and load after load rolling into the shed.

John dare not stop travelling in case the combine sinks into the sodden ground, so all the filling of the trailers is done on the move, so that the tractors and trailers don't go down either. The biggest problem with pulling a combine out of mud is where to attach the chain to without causing a huge amount of damage to the machine, so it is to be avoided at all costs.

Rosie, my mother-in-law, has really come to life with all the movement of the machines back and forth in the yard. It has been great to see her taking a real interest in what is happening, although she is most anxious that she has not got tea ready for all the "men".

Gradually over the last few months she has stopped wandering off, although we are still woken on occasional nights when her personal clock seems to go awry.

Overnight interlude between writing as I spent the rest of the day outside with dogs, poultry, checking sheep, supporting John and Geoff and keeping my eye on Rosie, who, as soon as I wrote had stopped wandering, was off again. Spooky.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette Aug 1