Must be about 70 by now...
70. Cold dark winters with deep snow (sadly, becoming a thing of the past even up here).
71. Full-strength storms and gales (like Ina, I'm into wind).
72. Spring and autumn - I love having a proper change of seasons.
73. Being a swineherd - I love pigs.
74. Being a poultryman - I love chooks.
75. Being a beekeeper - I love bees (and can't wait to get some more after our last cold dark winter did for our colonies).
76. Sitting on the hill - either by day and just admiring the mountains in the distance and the big sky overhead; or by night in winter, when it's bitterly cold but the northern lights are playing across the horizon (yes, repeating but... )
77. Living two miles outside a village so I can chose when to see people and when not to.
78. Living outside a village that still has the essentials of country life - shop, post office, bank, butcher, smiddy, garage, railway station, mechanic, tractor firm, chemist/newsagent, etc. And a farm merchant just down the road.
79. Neighbours who don't bother you unless you want to be bothered!
80. Neighbours who bring their tractors over and do a spot of work in return for homebrew, veg, and pork.
81. A butcher who can be paid in homebrew.
82. Space for small boys to run amok and be feral.
83. I can live in a boilersuit and wellies!
84. Plenty of hard, physical work to do but also the space to think (and rant!).
85. Fresh, homegrown fruit and vegetables.
86. Home-reared pork, lamb and chicken.
87. Eating homemade oat bread dripping with honey from your own bees.
88. The freedom to eat artichokes and not worry about upsetting polite company!
89. Walking to town and back because you feel like it; or walking up to the forest and back because it's there.
90. Knowing that our place has had human occupation for at least 2000 years because you can walk up the hill and see the standing stones and the hillfort.
Oh 1 more, in june when its still light at midnite & then light again by 3am. A.
