A day of reflection, as we try to absorb and understand the austerity measures.

Got soaked by the rain this morning when going to feed the hens & ducks. If only I had a goose that laid golden eggs to make it all worthwhile! Instead, what do I have? I have a motley crew of moulting specimens of Gallus Domesticus, in a variety of shapes and sizes, all scratching their way around my garden, none, bar one, laying me any eggs. Even the quail seem to have stopped laying. Yesterday's final egg count amounted to a duck egg, a hen egg and a single quail egg - dinner for 3, nonetheless.  -5C followed by wind and rain with ever fewer daylight hours is not a combination condusive to good freerange egg production. I wonder if my feathered friends ever stop to ponder the origins of their meals or if they just eat whenever they please with no regard for their futures? I suspect the latter. One thing for sure is this - there won't be any lemon curd making being done this week, although I'm tempted to make a few metres of pasta to dry and have in store. Despite soaring grain prices, local flour prices are down! Odd, or what?

Onwards and upwards - no point in allowing the current economic climate to grind us down. Another quick review of personal and/or business finances is always a handy exercise. I'm glad to say that for every pound of income, expenditure here doesn't exceed 70p, so there's still a bit of room to manoeuvre if things get really tight. (Unlike the Government that's inherited a nationwide 'business model' that seems to be costing them £1.20 of every £1 'earned'. MEGA-OUCH! )

What do people want? It's that age old question with no definitive answer. We all know that we need water, food, clothing, shelter, but a huge part of society needs more - they need to define their own lives by adorning them with extras, be they physical, factual or fantasy. These wants are a normal part of human nature - an innate need to succeed, so we work to earn to afford. The 'ability versus inability' to earn our own monetary income is a conflict that splits our society, in my opinion. For this reason, I think those who can should help those who can't in whatever way possible. We can adopt pets, farm animals, children from poverty-stricken nations, trees, vineyards... the list is endless, but I have never seen the opportunity to 'adopt a drop-out'. Perhaps this is the way forward... turning more and more of the normal, everyday people like you and me into the equivalent of secret millionaires. It's not millions of pounds that we need to help support our families, friends, neighbours, communities or, even, our countries, our skills and available man-hours are every bit as valuable! I realise that costs have to be met somewhere, but a penny saved is a penny earned.

It's time to decide on the next project...

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