The Farm in Winter

The ice has finally gone from the cattle trough and the snow-covered fields are just a memory. Today we see the brown earth as routine returns to the farm. It may be a new year, but it is the same manure, and one has to be careful where one steps. The administrative review has come to an end amid great and understandable angst as we move towards the end-game. I refer to my earlier post (Long Faces). It is likely to be a long winter.

The other day I made my first visit to the big farm - so many miles away that I had to rise at 5.00 a.m. I trekked across many fields in the dark, accompanied by my colleague and a pale moon. We walked over the brow of a hill to be greeted by a lovely dawn - not the lovely Dawn, that is another story. The sky was laced with yellow, blue, pink and orange, and the vast expanse of the farm received its blessing. It could have been designed by the lovely corporate people who chose the colour scheme for the farm - maybe it was an early draft. Sometimes I wonder if my morning tea is also laced.