The Peace and Quiet of the Countryside

The weather has been pretty awful the past couple of days - constant rain, heavy skies and no light. Cold too, brrr.

But something unusual has been happening outside our kitchen door.

On Thursday there seemed to be a lot of activity in the field. It's not our field, but we think of it as ours, or at least the view of it from the kitchen door. I love the wide open space and the changing colours. It is usually planted with wheat or barley and in the early summer looks like this -

Then of course as the crop grows and ripens it turns increasingly gold, until it is harvested in the Autumn.
Then the field lies fallow over the winter until the whole cycle starts again. I love it.
So this activity was perhaps the start of work to prepare the field? That was soon proved wrong, as more and more diverse pieces of farm machinery appeared dotted all round the field.
The penny dropped - it was going to be a farm auction.
So this is what we saw when we opened the blinds this morning....

A damp dismal and soggy field full of farm machinery and hundreds of farmers come to buy.

The peace of the countryside was shattered by an auctioneer standing on the back of a truck shouting out the bids while the people were all gradually sinking up to the top of their wellies in the mud.

The normally quiet farm road was a constant stream of traffic.

But what was the most surprising view?

THIS was right outside our kitchen door! Do you recognise what it is? That's right - a green portaloo! Of all the places in the field to put it!!
There was a steady stream of visitors to it all day.
As dusk fell the farmers had all jumped back into their 4 x 4s and headed home. Some pieces of machinery are still in the field, either unsold or waiting to be collected.
Hopefully all will be back to normal tomorrow, and we can look forward to the ploughing, sowing and growing season again. It can't come soon enough for me.
And I hope they don't forget about the portaloo, although we are intending to have a new bathroom put in soon, so it might come in handy.
By the way, I know it's been a while between posts. But I've been busy making rather a lot of Valentine cards for people all over the world. And now I'm on to Mother's Day. I don't remember being this busy at the start of the year before, so I wonder how the rest of the year will pan out?