THERE is very little good to report at the moment, but we can celebrate the news that Faith, Hope, Charity, Grace, Humility, Patience, Prudence and Chastity have had their lives saved as a result of coronavirus. These are our new hens (Chastity drew the short straw at the naming).
They were due to meet a sticky end, being coated in barbecue sauce in ready meals, after their egg-laying curves had started dipping, when the Quartermaster General returned from an unfulfilled visit to the supermarket and decreed that we need to get back into egg production pronto.
‘And, while you’re at it, you need to dig over the vegetable garden so we can get those seeds in.’ We have had to close the B&B and the holiday cottages until further notice, so it’s goodbye Basil and Sybil and hello Tom and Barbara.
We gave up keeping hens when the children left home, but now they’re back with us—when not conducting videoconference calls from the drawing-room —the eggs are very necessary.
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