This morning

Okay well this morning has so far been better than yesterday.  No visits from the RPA would help I guess and I have already written my 750 words for today.  I took Colin for his blood test at Churchinford and had the pleasure of visiting a super farm-shop up there in the hills called Jacqui Rees Deli -  a lovely hot sausage roll was purchased for Colin as a treat then, when he went to the Post Office, half of it was eaten by me.   GORGEOUS.  I highly recommend Jacqui's Deli - nice lady serving (maybe Jacqui?) - everything looked fresh and clean and appetising.  I suppose at 11.45am I was probably a bit hungry too ... anyway, back to work and things going steadily well this end too.  Going to Williton tonight for an Economic Conference - leading a workshop on Micro-Finance.  Back to preparing client papers for the panel next week.

Shall we go out?

In a bid to change my mood after this morning I am trying to organise the four of us to eat at our fantastic local pub (Culm Valley Inn).  This isn't as easy as it sounds and of-course there is the Apprentice to take into account - will a digitally recorded version be the same?  One member of family keen so far ... Another wants to go tomorrow night (I am at an economic conference on Exmoor so cannot make tomorrow) and a third says 'don't know'.  Okay it looks as though today might end the way it started - C**P.

Not a good start to the day

Just had a ruinous start to the day with a visit from a representative from the RPA. The RPA managed to make a field which is unchanged in 18 years into an 'ineligible' feature!  The rep from RPA agreed that the field was eligible but on all other counts decided the RPA 'thermal' imaging was completely correct.  She measured nothing and was determined to agree with the thermal and to disagree with our Google Earth images which she said were not recent.  I am absolutely fed up with dealing with this ghastly bureaucracy - our fields have been 'shrunk' three times since the RPA scheme was introduced.  No amount of reasonable communication does any good whatsoever and the whole exercise is to save DEFRA money at the expense of small-holders like us.  I am very fed up!  The RPA rep was, I am sure, only doing her job and following guidelines but that fact doesn't help and the visit still ruined my day.  I am still recovering .... slowly.