The longest journey begins with the first step..........

On this Wednesday, the last one in August, I spent quite some time thinking about the occasional visits Mrs Norman and I make to National Trust properties. Actually I did no such thing but I'm late with writing up this journal and I can't for the life of me remember what happened on the 30th of August so I am employing a literary device, otherwise known as fibbing, to fill in an otherwise blank space. Be that as it may I am rather taken with the work that the trust do and the way that they go about it. Apart from preserving houses, gardens and countryside that might otherwise be flattened to pay death duties, the mere act of preservation means that ancient skills involving masonry, weaving, carpentry, and all kinds of assorted crafts are kept alive in this way. These endangered skills are also employed in old style farming, animal husbandry, gardening, and food production. In fact as Mrs Norman pointed out the other day the menus in many of the trust's restaurants are a beacon for healthy eating and the consumption of organic produce.

My deed on this forgotten Wednesday was probably menial and my human contact was my ever reliable partner. My thoughts, if you'll believe a little white literary device, were on the splendid work undertaken by the National Trust.