Understanding What a Jerk is.

Hi Everyone

Now those of you who are approaching middle age will know that some things and especially new things can be very confusing. If you are finding the cost of a holiday too expensive with the looming cost of energy this winter, you hopefully can still have a special treat occasionally. This week we went to an Afro Caribbean restaurant on a farm in the Derbyshire Peak District. Now, this is where it gets confusing. I always thought that jerk was an obnoxious person and I had heard of jerk chicken, but it was always something I avoided as I thought it involved cruelty to chickens. It was only this week that I realised that the chickens were already dead and that jerk is a spicy marinade coating on the chicken. Even more confusing was that I thought that jerk was a West Indian tradition but the lovely lady who cooked our food was from the Cameroons which when I last did geography at school is a few thousand miles from the Caribbean. Anyway, we did not have chicken but instead had the fish platter. I don't know if the fish was jerked or not but I was not too worried however as fish are apparently less sensitive souls than chickens. Whether the fish. was jerked or not, it was a new eating experience and was delicious.

This week one of our friends gave us some sticks of rhubarb from his garden. Ok I know that it is not earth shattering news but it reminded me of when I was the errand boy at the Fruit, Vegetable, Flower, Game, and Lolly shop when my delivery routine was interrupted by the Senior Partner. Sadly the Junior Partner was in trouble yet again as he had not ordered enough rhubarb but, as always, the Senior Partner had the answer. This time it was her 'friend' who had a bed of rhubarb in her back garden although I cannot remember her ever going into her 'friend's' garden. Anyway, without any contact with her 'friend', as she was at work, I was dispatched with a box to raid her rhubarb bed to satisfy customer demand. I do not know whether she ever paid her 'friend' for the stolen rhubarb. What I do know is that she would have sold it to her unsuspecting customers at her usual premium prices.

Now ask yourself this question. Do you want to get up at 5-00 am every morning in all kinds of weather for 365 days a year to feed and look after your sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, or alpacas, or do you make your concrete farmyard into a car park and then install an ice cream parlor with perhaps a few burgers and drinks on the side?. Judging by the number of people queuing for two scoop tubs when we called at this farm this week, the answer was pretty evident. Many farmers have diversified away from real farming by converting farm buildings into holiday lets, cafes, or farm shops with the occasional pottery, glass blowing, or basket weaving thrown in. It is obviously a more lucrative business for many but with the price of four litres of milk rising by about 30% in the last three months it makes you wonder where our future food supplies will come from. Who can blame farmers wanting a more predictable and secure business made all the more risky by climate change. I am really happy, however, as I am able to add another two scoop emporium to my spotter's book.

Just a thought:

It takes a lot of hard work to be a nice person. Just be a jerk like everyone else.

Heard about someone who stole some rhubarb. She ended up in custardy.

Grain farmers have a tough life. They barley survive from wheat to wheat.

Keep cool, you know it makes sense.

Brian