Karma Police

Its a bloke thing I suppose, when faced with a roaring fire you have the overwhelming urge to poke it, just to make it go better. So there I was sat in front of the wood burning stove in Rock HQ, warm and happy. One beer up on the evening I was pondering the day as for some reason a spare brain cell was kicking neural pathways into life forcing me to remember something. Something crucial.

It had, on reflection, been a rather busy day, another one where I relied heavily on Tracey to to point me in the direction of much needed doing jobs rather than standing in the yard and watching Stable Sprite wrestle with roofing materials. A real surprise last night was a phone message that our boys were coming home having outstayed their welcome in the huge fields they have been playing in. Great. Them coming home means that the goats who have yet to be passed on to some other mug, I mean, discerning goat fancier have to leave the stable that will be required by William our lovely Welsh Cob. Meanwhile the other stable will have to be emptied of the hay currently stored in it so that Stable Sprite and Pritch could build the annex. As there is no where for it to go it will have to go back into the annex, move 7 since we bought the damned stuff. Apollo can then take up residence next to William. So mix in a bit of Christmas shopping, a huge amount of house work, the usual rounds, the conversion of the old chicken pen to facilitate the goats, the moving of said goats, all whilst trying not to fall over on the ice rink like yard, caused in part by yours truly forgetting the hose was still running so providing a vast amount of ice making material overnight, it had been quite a busy day. One where I had earned that beer.

I poked the fire some more, the heat was fantastic, nice dry wood really does affect the heat radiated, that brain cell was doing somersaults, a neural pathway revealed itself and it wasn't going to waste the opportunity to trigger a memory. It was dark, freezing outside, wasn't it good to be indoors with potential for more beer the majority of my brain cells were musing. Yes, replied the single cell, the heat is quite amazing, what a difference dry wood makes. True agreed the majority, you really couldn't get warmer than this unless you burnt coal.

Coal said the single brain cell in false innocence knowing the master stroke was about to be delivered. Coal, like the technohermit burns. It waited.

The majority remembered, Coal like the Hermit burns, like the bag of coal in the back of Fifi, along with all his shopping, his food, his provisions I said I would buy for him and deliver in the afternoon. Before it got dark and cold. Before he starved and froze to death. Before I got all cosy and warm and started to relax with a beer. Satisfied it had done its job the single brain cell took the rest of the night off while the majority set out to walk around the hill earning good Karma for carrying 20kg of spuds, 2 kg of carrots and 2 litres of milk. The coal could wait until daylight, the Karma police only allow you to earn so much in a day.