Encounters

There is good farmland around here if you look hard enough - and I went to visit one of the estate farms to the east to buy some oats on Thursday. It was a fantastic old place with regal buildings and walled gardens, not quite 'Das ist ein Schloss' (borrowing from Boris Johnson) but not far off.

Andrew showed me round the place, including a tour of the greenhouses with peach trees and ripening grape vines! He kept goats as a lad - they milk well for orphan lambs - and fondly remembers their antics climbing on to the roof of every building in sight.

On the way back I picked up a couple of hitch hikers - rare things these days unfortunately. They were from Alberta Canada and their take on climate change was that it was years since they'd experienced the minus 40C temperatures they used to get in winter 'unfortunately'. Even so - they didn't seem too convinced that climate change was happening.

They likened the Highland Clearances to the eviction of Canadian Indians to Reservations - which was an interesting take.

Talking of Boris Johnson - I thought he was wonderful at the Olympics closing ceremony - I especially enjoyed seeing him put his hands in his pockets and then suddenly correct himself. It was a shame he'd made so much effort to look statesmen-like - but I think the shambolic buffoon shone through well enough.