The Branch Bus

Well the Boyz (Ben, Rowan and Brodie - Sammy will be added when he's mobile) have gone off to a Thomas wedding in Newcastle. I actually cried when they set off as this is the first time that Rowan and Brodie have ever spent a night away from me - not intentional, just happened like that. Quite an emotional moment for me. Sammy and I didn't go because Samuel is a bad traveller and screams for large parts of even relatively short journeys so the thought of hour upon hour of driving up through France and then the UK filled us all with dread. We are instead on dog, cat, geese and chicken watch.

Anyway, now that I have relative peace and quiet, I have had chance to wander round with Sammy and listen to my own thoughts - something very difficult to do when there's a Brodie in the vicinity! I decided that when Sam had a sleep I was going to tackle some of the overgrown and dead vegetation along our drive and found out what stock was really in there.
So secateurs and loppers at the ready I began. A large pile of debris is now left behind me and is traditional for me whenever I do a 'tidy up' job - I like the tidying bit but not the clearing up of the bits removed from flowerbeds. Ben says that it isn't really tidying, it's just moving rubbish from one place to another. Bless him however, he has accepted this quirk of mine and has designed the Branch Bus, pictured here, that can be towed along behind the tractor and will stop at the varying locations around our garden where I have been working and collect all the unwanted 'passengers' and take them to a mulching area in one of our fields. Looks like once again its services will be required when The Boyz get back on Monday.