It seems with the demise of the Daily Post Word Prompt whereby a word was suggested each day as a topic to write about, leaving me with no subject for my blog, hence; “Back to square one.” I shall revert to my original subject, The Diary of a Country Bumpkin.

When I first started writing this particular blog it coincided with my arrival in the country having moved from London to the sticks and the culture shock involved with acclimatising to the different lifestyle.

My opinion has changed dramatically since those early days some nine years ago now, to my current position, in that I would rather stich a fork in my eye than return to living in town, so although my opinion of the countryside has changed dramatically, I shall attempt to keep this blog for matters relating to living in the countryside.

Obviously as one who came from the town it will be limited as to the subjects I can cover, I’m not for example suddenly going to attempt to qualify as a country vet to regale you with tales of sticking my arm up the rear end of a pregnant cow, most definitely not.

Here are a couple of quick observations as to the difference between the town and the country, when I first arrived I was surprised at the slower pace of life where one might indulge in a conversation with the salesperson in one’s local shop before purchasing, half a dozen eggs and a pork pie, all well and good if you are first in the queue, not so useful if you are last.

As with so many things there are pros and there are cons, for example, whilst the time taken in the shop is greatly increased, the time taken to get to said shop is dramatically decreased, due to the lack of traffic and much greater speed limits. I think it safe to say one of my greatest pleasures in moving to the country is the ability to drive around as if I’m taking part in the British F1 Grand Prix.

In actual fact I think the pace of life in town is slower than the country due to the enormous amount of time taken to get anywhere, vast swathes of London now have 20 mph speed limits and one is hard pushed to attain those heady speeds, it drives me mad. Empty bus lanes with no traffic in them and I’m stuck in queue of cars going nowhere.

Anyone who reads my blog may have noticed that I have a few cars and am quite keen on collecting more should funds ever permit, I can tell I’m getting into the country way of living because I would rather like to add to my collection of cars with a small classic tractor, commonly known as a Grey Fergie. The ideal vehicle for driving in town as it has a top speed of about 12 mph.