I usually do my lookering first thing while management is clearing up the mess I leave after cooking breakfast.
On one particular morning, I spotted an enormous flock of geese several hundred yards away, which rather reminded me of the recipe I was given many years ago for the foolproof method of cooking a wild goose.
If you are unlucky enough to down a goose that has been round the block several times, great care is needed in preparing it for the feast. Having had the bird for at least a week, pluck it and gut it and place it in a boiling pan large enough to hold it comfortably. Fill the pan with water, just covering the top of the bird. Add four or five onions either whole or roughly chopped, and a few leeks if available, followed by a decent handful of fresh parsley. Finally place on top of the bird a clean house brick that has been soaked in hot salty water for at least two hours. Bring the pan to the boil and then transfer it to the slow oven in your Aga, or leave to simmer on the top of the cooker for six to eight hours. Finally, having cooked a decent variety of potatoes and greens, remove the goose from the pan, taking care to save all the stock. Before serving, throw away the goose and eat the brick! Job done!
Recently a hunt in the South East was enjoying the countryside in pursuit of a trail, when it was observed that it was being stalked by a drone. Someone who was obviously a better shot than me incapacitated the camera and all hell was let loose. The anti-hunt activists, dialled 999 and in no time nine policeman arrived. The marksman was duly arrested for disturbing the piece (peace!). Now if you or I report any suspicious activity on or near our own premises, you will be lucky to get a courtesy call. Incidentally, not only were the activists trespassing, but they were also controlling the drone from over 600 yards away, which is illegal in itself. But let’s face it, there is one law for the many and not a lot of law for the few!
That obnoxious, self-serving little man, who is the Speaker of the House, continues to favour the left and it is increasingly obvious to me that he has long realised he won’t enter the House of Lords with the backing of the Tory party, so he is doing everything within his power to bribe Corbyn’s rabble to flick the switch when they are in government. Make no mistake – a Marxist government is just around the corner because the present incumbents on the Conservative benches have not got a clue how to run a campaign and they have not got the nous to employ a large team who have the enthusiasm and employ them right now! Conversely, McDonnell’s mob have already bribed current university students to join their ranks and are now in the process of grooming the next age group to do the same. Hence the atrocious spectacle of thousands of kids who should have been at school marching on Westminster with their teachers on the pretext of being concerned for the environment, while chanting that Mrs May is a whore, and singing the praises of Corbyn.
I find it very sad that our education system from top to bottom is infested with left wingers who are bent on preaching political correctness, gender politics, and everything else which will be of little or no value when the kids finally leave school to find work. Who is teaching them that unemployment will rocket under a socialist regime? Without doubt our kids in secondary education are being taught to be activists and to despise those who create employment.
A great friend of mine recently stumbled upon a fox in his large chicken run – it wasn’t chasing chickens but rather shooting the breeze. It was patently obvious that this animal had been given a non-return ticket from an urban environment and had yet to learn how to feed itself. Yet the RSPCA preach to us in the countryside how to be kind to animals!
I am fed up with cooking breakfast, I am fed up with having to work out which colour bin to put out, and I am fed up with forgetting to feed the cats Finally, I am getting fed up with the nanny state, which is continually telling me how much and what I can eat and drink and how much exercise I need to take – and this is from a cohort of non-productive dullards who sit on their backsides all day, while snacking on Snickers and everything else that they say we should not eat. On that note, to finish, a ditty given to me by a longstanding farming friend:
There’s many ways of doing things
As everyone supposes
Some turn up their sleeves to work
Some turn up their noses
PS – One last thought. Management and I have purchased with our kids a 300 year old stone farmhouse in Central Brittany. It can sleep six adults and up to six children with a heated pool and children’s playroom. The area is beautifully rural – no traffic, no litter, no noise and no potholes, no politics, yet very close to amenities. Give me a call if this might be of interest.