Real life
The horse lorry arrived and lowered its ramp — and I stood in front of it knowing that my thoroughbred…
Real life
The filling station on the road out of the village was like a scene from Mad Max. People were all…
Real life
British Gas finally agreed to service my boiler, for no reason I could make out other than the boiler wasn’t…
Real life
After the landowner told us to be out in three weeks, then admitted we had three months to move our…
Real life
The two-acre smallholding lived up to its name in being very, very small indeed. We had to squeeze around the…
Real life
‘I’ve got COPD,’ said a friend of mine, not elaborating at all as I stared at him waiting for him…
Real life
We began searching for the farm of our dreams in Wales as we planned our escape from Surrey. The problem…
Real life
The letter arrived in a hand-addressed envelope, inside of which was a handwritten note. After everything we have been through,…
Real life
If it’s true that the virus finds your weak spot, it has lodged itself like an evil monkey in my…
Real life
‘Contact a GP if you’re worried about symptoms four weeks after having Covid.’ That was the NHS quote on the…
Real life
The woman pulled up in her flashy 4×4 which was meandering along the farm track in that way people have…
Real life
The doctor’s receptionist was adamant. ‘If you had not had the vaccine you would have been even more ill with…
Real life
The scaffolding pole across the public footpath led to a farcical conversation with the local council. I had been walking…
Real life
Since telling the shoot we won’t let them use the land we rent, we have been beset by a series…
Real life
‘Oh, I do so love to see all the lovely pheasants running around the place,’ said the lady walking the…
Real life
The woman sat alone and stony-faced in the passenger seat of the car as it blocked the road. She was…
Real life
Exciting news from my father’s cousin in Canada. ‘You asked about our grandfather, there is much to tell,’ he writes.…
Real life
While we were looking forward to Freedom Day, the National Health Service was busy planning something extra special to coincide…
Real life
A saloon car pulled up opposite our fields and a man sat there looking at the horses with a bewildered…
Real life
‘You’ll come back when you’re in enough pain,’ said the osteopath as I walked out of his door. That was…
Real life
‘We’re closed for lunch,’ said the farmer, sitting behind the counter of his farm shop with a scowl on his…
Salt and vinegar crisps
Henry Walker might never have got into the crisp business were it not for the fact that his Leicester butcher’s…
Real life
More threatening letters from the NHS demanding I let them jab me up with two Covid vaccinations. Or as the…
Real life
An angry text exchange between me and a former Tory councillor after she lost her seat has got me thinking.…
Real life
‘You’re meant to be having your dental appointment now!’ barked the receptionist, bringing my lie-in to an abrupt end. Very…
