26th April

It is snowing outside, not lingering of course, just rain/sleet/snow a miserable mix.  Yesterday evening was a parish meeting in the church, about 20 people attended, and the discussion tended towards slowing down speeding in the village.  We met some new people, one couple had angst against a gate being put in a field, the other couple offered their garden and barn for a village barbecue.  Our house had been built in the field that the barbecue was held in recent years.  Though before the pony stabled in the field it had been a butcher's shop against the church wall, the village being very different at the beginning of the 20th century.

Aerial shot;  The small plot of land between the pub and the church

Village politics, all slightly interwoven with the people who have lived here for generations and then the 'newbies' who have moved into the village over the years as new houses have been built. The first thing I felt was the problem of discussing things, why do we always have to sit in rows with our backs to each other facing the top table of 'executives', why not sit in the 'round' I expect the Green Party could teach the democratic way of discussion, it hives off separate working/discussion groups.  LS had been asked to be the chairman, which he refused as he felt he was new to the district.

Something I learnt was that otters had been seen in the river, which must prove it has fish, though the heron does that also.   But it is such a delight to know that the natural world still ploughs on under the surface.

I reckon an 'ecology' survey on the land around would not go amiss, recording of wild flowers, there are scant remains of stitchwort along the Salton Road but no primroses.  Mostly of course in the flat Vale of Pickering it is just arable farming that is done, though there must have been mixed farms in the 20th century.