Shortbread on the River!

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MV ShortbreadA friend said on the phone: “Where are you? It sounds as if you’re speaking from the bottom of a bucket!” I replied that Mrs Bard and I were taking a short break on the river. Apparently this translated in poor-signal-phone-speak as ‘Shortbread on the river’. Thus the MV Shortbread was launched…

We took a short break on the river,
With excitement we could only just handle,
The weather for May, was only Ok,
More Wellington Boot than sandal.

We came to a lock with confusion,
Had to fill it before we went in,
The water arose as it does I suppose,
First dead bottle of wine for the bin!

We stopped for the night by a lake,
Secured the boat to a tree,
Come six-O’clock, we were back at the lock,
We’d not mastered the ropes, that was me!

Back at the mooring, secure,
I said “how lucky we are!”
Two more bottles of wine, we felt just fine,
As for food, it was back in the car!

We walked in search of a pub,
It was far further than it oughta!
On the way back, we came under attack,
From some cows and I fell in the water!

“You’re not coming in wet like that!”
Mrs Bard shouted at me!
I knew I was wet, how could I forget?
So had to disrobe by a tree!

I showered and warmed my poor body,
Had a steaming hot chocolate as well,
When we get back, how good was that?
Only edited highlights we’ll tell!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Twenty-five Unconfined Mice!

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Farmhouse LivestockThere are major drawbacks with living in an old draughty farmhouse. While all your friends gasp at the wonderful wooden beams and rooms filled with what estate agents call ‘character’, you simply long for warm rooms with no draughts and double glazing! Another downside is the attractiveness to small livestock that your period property poses. The little sods arrive, march in through cracks in walls, doors or windows and before you know it you have a plague…

Twenty-five unconfined mice*,
Oh! They’re such fun!
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who threatens her husband with a carving knife,
If he doesn’t shift them she’ll end his life!
Twenty-five bloody mice!

*25 mice killed in seven days with the help of three mouse traps and a jar of peanut butter (The Baldock Bard is still entire but it was a close run thing!)

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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The Day I Shot a Fox!

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Poxy Foxy!Regular readers will know that a fox has killed all our hens. As a farmer I understand a little about nature, just as you get to know a partner after a few years together! I admit being baffled by the behaviour of foxes. Any animal will kill to feed their young, however the fox will kill a hen, remove its head and leave the meat to kill again. As a result we have no hens left on the farm and the farmyard is eerily quiet. Oh! And before anyone tells me about hens – I know they enjoy nothing better than killing and eating baby mice, apart from pecking each other that is! Anyway I digress. The other afternoon I spied an unwelcome visitor and gave chase…

There’s a killer stalking the farm,
And I am on its trail,
If I can get close enough,
I may try to grab its tail!
But if I am a long way off,
Further than I can reach,
I shall use another way,
So a lesson, I can, it teach!

I crept up on it silently,
Then thought. ‘what the hell!’
Had it firmly in my sights,
The damn thing knew as well.
It turned at length and faced me,
It knew the end was nigh,
I framed it in the cross-hairs,
And shot it in the eye!

Now before you get the wrong idea,
And possibly start to moan,
The picture’s on top of this page,
Shot with my i-Phone!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above
The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Nature’s Light Show!

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Rainbow 130513A couple of evenings ago there was a stunning rainbow. It was so spectacular that it took a moment before I grabbed my trusty camera. The results were less than worthy until I ran outside into the rain with a ‘too-impressive-to-worry-about-the-camera’ attitude. I was so stunned at the beauty of natures light show that I almost forgot to take any pictures…

“There’s gold at the end of the rainbow!”
My old mother used to say,
There wasn’t much gold
only rain, wet and cold,
With one the other day.

I rushed out with my trust spade,
To see what I could find,
Just a root
and a chickens foot,
That the fox had left behind!

I left the gold for some other fool,
And instead looked on with pleasure,
The colours were bright
in the stormy light,
I knew I’d discovered treasure!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Exciting News from the Farm!

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Canada Geese 2013We have exciting news! Two wild Canada Geese have successfully hatched five chicks. To most farmers this would be as ground-breaking a headline as ‘Jet takes off from Gatwick!’ would be to the national press. But to us it’s historic as it is many years since we’ve had a visiting goose successfully lay eggs, let alone hatch chicks. So I ask for your understanding in our mini-moment of celebration of a small triumph…

A family from far away,
Is staying at the farm,
Lo and behold they’re parents,
No cause for any alarm!
Neither of them claim benefits,
Nor asylum seek,
They aren’t going to end up in the dock,
In front of an aged beak!
We can’t interfere with nature,
We hope the chicks survive,
And all fly away together,
When autumn days arrive!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Who Left the Gate Open?

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Open GateDo we truly appreciate our surroundings? I think not and I am as bad a culprit as you can get. I went into the wood yesterday evening to photograph some bluebells. As I was leaving the sun caught my eye as it streamed through an open gate. Without knowing how my much-used Panasonic would deal with all those things it does, I snapped off a couple of shots. It was only when I returned to the office that I truly believed the beauty of the scene, however the farmer in me posed the question – who left the gate open…?

Was it Tommy from the cottage walking his dog?
Or John with his chainsaw, after sawing a log?
Was it some deer that had been, on grass just grazing?
Or some hesitant ramblers, who were lost from near Nazeing?
Was it daughter Siân, with my baby grand-daughter?
Or a cat after songbirds, intent on some slaughter?
Was it a rabbit dandelioning away from its burrow?
Or a raptor on a mission, chasing a sparrow?
Was it a fox with a mouth full, of my missing hen?
Or the hounds with the hunt, who have lost it again?
Was it Charlotte on Dolly, out for a ride?
Or a poacher with a pheasant, hung from his side?
I really don’t know who it could be,
Of one thing I’m certain,
it was most probably me!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Twitter: @baldockbard
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Bank Holiday Monday!

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Bank HolidayIt’s just what the doctor ordered, a rare bank holiday Monday with sunny skies. In the supermarkets, barbecue tongs and sausages are flying off the shelves along with Ice cream and suntan lotion. The bankers have chosen a great day to take a break…

It’s bank holiday Monday,
Only the banks are closed,
The bankers need a rest day,
Only why, nobody knows!

Everything else is open,
You can buy a hat or a coat,
You can even visit a circus,
To watch a performing goat!

To shepherds on the hillside,
It’s another working day,
They’re in the middle of lambing,
They’re working night and day.

It’s chaos on the roadways,
The queues stretch for miles,
Uncle Arthur just won’t stop moaning,
Something to do with his piles!

Spare a thought for those,
Manning the tills no complain,
While those who fuelled the recession,
Have a day off drinking champagne!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Twitter: @baldockbard
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Daffodil, Goodbye and Thank You!

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Baldock DaffodilIt’s Bank Holiday time again! Picnic rugs are being dusted down, barbecues fetched from the far reaches of the garage and Ice-cream van jingles are being heard again after a long winter. I always am sorry to see the demise of the daffodil, it has lightened our lives during that no-mans land of winter/spring and deserves more recognition. Alas it is soon forgotten by events until it comes to our rescue again next year…

The daffodils are nearly done
A sign of spring receding
It’s time to mow the lawns each week,
the borders, they need weeding.

But what is this to cloud the mind?
First Bank Holiday Monday!
We’ll have to take the kids somewhere,
Not gardening but a funday!

Oh dear they say the traffic’s bad,
Miles and miles of queues,
The weather may be bad as well,
Not good for lambs and ewes!

I hope you enjoy your weekend,
May your outside cooking not fail,
And maybe I’ll be seeing you,
At our Saturday car boot sale!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Twitter: @baldockbard
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Granddaughter at the Boot Sale!

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BuvvvIf anyone had suggested in 1992 that I’d still be running a car boot sale twenty-one years later, I’d have suggested they sought medical advice! Had they said that I’d be seen carrying a granddaughter around, I would have suggested they were delusional and needed stronger tablets! However that’s exactly what has happened…

I took Granddaughter to the Boot Sale,
She gurgled quite a lot,
Some of the sellers were gob-smacked,
Thought I’d lost the plot!
She said “Buvvv” to everyone,
Hid her modesty behind large shades,
Only bought one thing, a picture,
Alligators in the Everglades!
She turned down a burger,
No sweets did she pick!
And kept my guilty secret,
Breakfast in French stick!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
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Twitter: @baldockbard
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A Farmer in the Stocks!

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farmerScksRoll Up! Roll Up! It’s the greatest show on earth! Come and see the farmer in the stocks! Bring plenty of rotten imported fruit and your best throwing arm. I am a farmer, my job, as I see it, is to grow the maximum amount of crops on my acreage to feed as many people as possible. All of this whilst protecting the environment for the next generation. Furthermore I like bees, they help pollinate my crops and wild flowers, I love honey and have almost worn out my copy of ‘Bee Movie’. However Brussels has now declared that we are all bee killers and that a yield-enhancing chemical must be banned. In the past, chemicals were banned following proper scientific investigation. This time hysteria has overtaken common sense and I’m to blame. I work in possibly the most over-regulated industry in the most over-regulated country since the fall of East Germany. Unfortunately I don’t produce enough organic matter myself to fertilise my acres so going organic isn’t an option and anyway lower yields would lead to less food in the shops. So what’s it to be…
P1100677I’m spending Thursday in the stocks,
because I sprayed my farm,
the lack of bees to pollinate,
has led to great alarm.

“It’s the fault of farmers!”
TV commentators say,
it would be our fault yet again,
if shops, no food display.

I’d love to go organic,
it would save me a king’s ransom,
sprays cost more than whisky,
the rewards could be quite handsome!

But what is this I hear you cry,
“Your job is to feed us all,”
Well guess what, that’s your lot!
Your portion will be small!

I don’t kill bees,
I don’t kill wasps,
I don’t kill MPs either!
I just want peace,
To feed the world,
And possibly make a fiver!

© Baldock Bard 2013
For more verse click on ‘Home’ above

The Baldock Boot Sale is open every Saturday at 7am
www.u-boot.co.uk
Facebook: Baldock Bard
Twitter: @baldockbard
E-mail: baldockbard(at)u-boot.co.uk
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