Losing contact with the outside world is a consequence of living in the country I guess as I find that village life is very much like living in a bubble. On route to the village one can listen to as many radio stations as one wants too by as soon as you near the village the crackles start creeping in and as soon as you cross the threshold, they all disappear all together. Its as if the walls are lined with lead. There is one station however, the dreaded local radio which insists on playing continuous folk music whilst predicting the weather using Bob’s seaweed - talk about the simple life.

And as for those mobile phone thingies, you can forget it. The only way I can get a signal is if I stand on one leg whilst leaning out the window, shouting at my handset which is being held at arms length. I even spent last night attempting to hook up the workshop with power as I dug out the old CB radio and was certain that someone must be out there. Hours later after painstakingly pinning cables all round the house and out to the workshop, I fired up the CB only to get no reply to my desperate cries for contact with the outside world.

But thinking about it, its actually not that bad. It doesn’t really come as a surprise thinking about it, in fact to be honest, getting away from it all is one of the reasons why we took on the house. Ask me whether I would live out in the sticks 6 years ago when living in a bustling Edinburgh, I would have said ‘no chance’ without any thought. I guess the tranquility of down here has grown on me.

However if you do need to get in touch with me, best make it a fast pigeon if its an urgent message!