'Two sides to this, firstly, and very uncharitable, it's nature-indulgence for townies like me who yearn to be horny-handed sons of the soil and escape to a simpler time and place working four ourselves and seeing the fruits of our labours. An entirely impractical dream, and it's clear from all these books and programmes that it is only sustainable for the authors or presenters as they have an outside or independent income. Occasionally there are allusions to this in the book and the enchanted mirror image of an independent traditional farmer relying only on his own hard work on the farm is tarnished. On the other hand, a very important critique of the way we have over-developed, over-farmed and destroyed the landscape and environment to industrialise unsustainable farming - in the short-term more people can be fed and cheaper, but in the long run we risk destroying the fertility and productivity of the landscape.
Freddie is back from his expedition - he survived, but he found it really tough and is truly exhausted. He's not had blisters before, and he was so nervous on this hike he couldn't eat properly, bless him. But he made it through, and it was a higher level than he is doing and he was with the older explorers. He will learn a lot from it, I just hope it doesn't put him off. He managed to put the trangia together and safely cook an evening meal, and put the tent up and sleep out in freezing temperatures, I know i couldn't have done that at his age.
On Saturday I got roped into helping out at William's Beaver Science Day. i was in charge of density, acids and alkalines and didn't have a clue at first. By the 9th group though I had got into my showman's patter and was able to bullshit with the best of them about what was happening. Is that all science is?
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