What the world needs now

I didn't tell you - we found a horse plough the other week. Not quite in working condition but, with a little love, attention, vinegar, coca cola maybe and some kind of easing product, the plough we've been waiting for (for over two years) is now sitting outside our kitchen. Exactly like this:


It all started with a message from one of the English Mafia: An ad on angloinfo said an antique horse plough was taking up valuable barn space; cleaned up, would make a good garden ornament.

Already sounding better than a plough taking up yard space, I got in touch with the owner and offered a pitiful amount of cash, and some free-range sausages and bacon. Which she readily accepted.

We borrowed a trailer and went to take a look. It was the closest thing to a working plough we've seen - several parts actually move (sadly not the wheels, but give it time). Digging around in the barn, I also found whippletrees (not the easiest things to get your hands on, I can tell you), parts of a horse buggy, some wood with an odd metal thing on it, an old wheelbarrow and a ceramic double sink, all of which they let us have for nothing. (This couple were moving on to pastures new - and antipodean - and all this stuff was going to landfill the following day if we didn't take it.)

Which brings me neatly to the upcoming UK General Election.

Over the last many months, I've spent some time dwelling on what can replace the failing capitalist model. (As you do.) It's great to see the LibDems finally becoming the lead party. But having read their manifesto next to the Green Party's a few elections ago, me and Her Outdoors jumped ship. Try it. You might surprise yourself.

Having also read the IPCC report, among other things, even a shift as radical as installing a sensible, sensitive government in one of over 180 countries worldwide will be too little, too late. I doubt any existing form of government can effect the change we really need(TM) as fast as we really need it.

But Roz and Clyde did just that. They turned down offers of more money because we are going to put the plough back into use. That's what the world needs in the years ahead. To make the resources that already exist available to the people who need them. Not for money. But because it's the sustainable thing to do. The only thing to do.

Next: Interesting Rocks found while digging a hole for the sceptic tank.