2020-08-07 13:36
I had forgotten about Eileen until I was going through my list of phone numbers and came across one for Linda. Linda and Eileen met at the car boot sale one Saturday when they found themsel… Read More
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Baldock Bard | Verse And Worse From The Baldock Ve Blog
u-boot.co.uk
The Baldock Bard has been the resident Versemonger for the Baldock Car Boot Sales since 1997. The blog is updated at least five times a week. Check it out, you never know, you may enjoy it!
2020-07-31 17:25
Mowing the strips on a Friday!
I was cutting the rows today (Friday) ready for the Saturday Boot Sale and it was a very hot morning. I was reminded of a couple of buyers from many years… Read More
2020-07-07 06:50
As we finally approach our delayed opening day may I firstly thank all our wonderful customers for their patience. While wondering what I could scribble this week, I came across a list I&rs&helli…Read More
2020-06-25 07:06
The process of ‘DO WE? DON’T WE?’ is long and complicated. The overriding factor in judging when to open for the 2020 season is down to ONE concern ONLY: The Safety Of Our… Read More
2020-06-18 10:51
A Sunny Saturday in July 2006While mowing the boot sale field this week I was remembering those customers who were once a part of my life at the Bootsale. Of all those customers I’ve… Read More
2020-06-10 15:52
Everyone knows that car boot sales are renowned for customers haggling over prices. It can be something that makes me cringe, particularly when I watch an experienced haggler take an inexpe… Read More
2020-06-05 07:52
Car Boots and Sunday Soots (2)While we still can’t open I’m going back through some memories collected over the years at the Baldock Saturday Car Boot Sale. Hope to see you all… Read More
2020-05-20 12:48
Lockdown Lines from a Boot Sale Boss!Issue 1
The title of this collection of stories stems from our first year of sales back in 1992.A couple turned up with a rather large gazebo. Under… Read More
2019-02-11 08:15
My six-year-old granddaughter arrived on Saturday clutching her make-up bag. Whist thrilled to see her I was somewhat concerned as to what might be about to happen. An old man with pain… Read More
2019-01-28 07:45
Being the age I am, I’m supposed to become ‘outraged’ at the drop of a hat. The other day when I was in a well-known shop looking for some winter attire before the ‘… Read More
2019-01-09 08:33
Nearly everyone I’ve met in the last week seems to have had a nasty cold. Some have had flu and some just feel under the weather. I suppose it serves me right for mocking the afflicte… Read More
2019-01-03 07:39
Since before Christmas I have written no verse. There are those who have wondered if I have been hiding on a small private island in the Caribbean without means of communication. Others… Read More
2018-12-18 07:55
I have to admit that the one skill I always lacked on the farm was ploughing. My rather feeble excuse is that when I was training and during my early years in the industry, ploughing had fa… Read More
2018-12-14 09:19
Recently I did some tree trimming with son-in-law John. He is a wiz with a chainsaw and I hoisted him up in the cage on the front of the JCB Loadall to cut some low-hanging branches. My… Read More
2018-12-12 08:12
Yesterday I wanted to check out how close some trees were to the power cables in a field. Firstly I used my eyesight, which has never been that great at judging distances! Then I had an idea… Read More
2018-12-10 08:03
Mrs Bard and I have just returned from a short break in Norfolk on the East Coast. It is said that anything that outsiders find strange is ‘NFN’ or ‘Normal for Norfolk&rsqu&hell…Read More
2018-11-28 07:23
Yesterday I saw a friend who was not well. Matt is a big guy and to see him laid low by something so iniquitous was not a pretty sight. Being a sympathetic person, I had to record his suffer… Read More
2018-11-23 08:26
Flying my drone recently I happened to overfly some trees on my way back to the launch site. On reviewing my photos later, some of the trees looked very different from above and so I took o… Read More
2018-11-22 08:30
We share our house two terriers, Mati and Mali (pictured at table above!). Living with two dogs can be hard work. So long as you understand that you are in their home for one purpose and tha… Read More
2018-11-21 07:23
There are some photo opportunities that just happen, but only for a split second. Last Sunday evening, while relaxing by the river, watching the sun go down and getting outside a can of Guin… Read More
2018-11-20 08:13
The other day I took my trusty drone for a walk around the wood.The evening sun was just setting and it gave everything a red glow. The autumn colours were just about done on most tees, alth… Read More
2018-11-16 07:22
I had an email from one of my readers asking if I was well, as my poetic postings had suddenly dried up three weeks ago. The cause for the sabbatical was my father’s death at the age o… Read More
2018-10-30 07:31
There is a photo-sharing website that has a category entitled ‘A decision was made here!’ of items returned by shoppers to the wrong shelf. Yesterday in a supermarket I witnessed… Read More
2018-10-29 07:30
This morning sees the first sharp frost of the winter. The clocks went back yesterday and so it’s now de-icer time. I could have sworn it was in the car…
Where did I put the de… Read More
2018-10-21 16:48
Saturday saw our final Baldock car boot sale of the 2018 season. While many customers moaned about finding something to do next Saturday, others remarked on the cold early-morning temperatur… Read More
2018-10-19 06:26
The other night I dreamt that I was eating the world’s largest donut! Being diabetic and no longer allowed such fare, it was a wonderful illicit dream and took me back in time to two y… Read More
2018-10-18 07:13
Yesterday morning I went out to the car and there on the door was a beautifully intricate spiders web that had captured rain drops overnight. Sadly it is a sign that the weather is preparing… Read More
2018-10-16 06:19
Last week at the Baldock car boot sale a seller was selling picture frames. He used one to make a valid political observation. I’m not fond of any politician and I found myself agreein… Read More
2018-10-12 06:43
Most farmers are, through necessity, ‘Jack of All Trades!’. They can turn their hands to most things in an emergency, mostly so long as it involves baler-twine or gaffer tape! I… Read More
2018-10-11 08:32
The realisation struck me sometime yesterday that yesterday’s posting was not exactly the finest advert for my drone-flying or photography skills! So I looked back in my archives to fi… Read More
2018-10-10 06:41
Last night I sent up my drone to take the perfect sunset picture. Now I’m a simple ‘Point and Squirt’ photographer who relies on the maxim that if I take 100 photos, then o… Read More
2018-10-09 06:40
When I found this picture in an archive file, I knew that I had to use it one morning. Taken fifteen years ago, it can only be Italy! A sheep farmer here in the UK would never think of being… Read More
2018-10-05 07:33
My granddaughter was six yesterday. As I am now very old I’m allowed to use phrases like: ‘I don’t know where time has gone!’ and ‘it seems like only yesterday!… Read More
2018-10-02 07:35
This morning I wrote a very good verse (or so I thought!). I had rushed downstairs before seven and quickly typed it out onto my laptop. Alas normal ‘morning procedure’ interrupt… Read More
2018-10-01 06:54
I have to admit I see gardening as a chore not a pleasure. This is rather disappointing as I have inherited rather a large area to tend along with numerous antique topiary hedges that seem t… Read More
2018-09-28 06:34
Many years ago, back in the early seventies, there was a TV advert for a lighter bread called Nimble. The advert had a nubile young maiden (probably now in her mid-seventies!) floating in a… Read More
2018-09-27 06:26
One of the downsides to living in the countryside in autumn is the annual migration of mice into the house from outside. Not only are they odorous and irritating in the larder, but they make… Read More
2018-09-25 07:07
Recently I was wandering along a harbour when I spotted two pigeons sitting in a rowing boat. Nothing odd in that you might think, ‘Pigeons in a boat? See it every day!’ For some… Read More
2018-09-24 09:59
When walking up to the workshop to fetch a power tool I noticed the yard had weeds growing out of every crack in the concrete. This never happened when the farmyard was busy, so it’s o… Read More
2018-09-21 06:41
For the last eighteen days my father has lain in a hospital bed; immobile, sometimes asleep and often confused. My family and I have spent many hours by his bedside to relieve the nurses so… Read More
2018-09-20 06:25
One of these is not like the rest. We have a small white duck on the farm who suffers from ‘Species Confusion’. Wherever the geese go, there is a small Jemima Duddlepuck followin… Read More
2018-09-19 06:38
As regular readers of this column will attest, I can sometimes be a pillock! This achieves two objectives, firstly it irritates people and secondly ends in a public humiliation/apology from… Read More
2018-09-18 06:23
I was looking through some recent photos and came across one that made me think. It came as a shock to suddenly realise that the dogs in this household don’t worry about anything. They… Read More
2018-09-14 06:37
Yesterday two young ladies visited the farm from a famous farming publication to find out how and why I fly a drone. They were very patient with an old man and listened as I attempted to exp… Read More
2018-09-13 06:42
Today I’m entertaining a journalist who wants to know about drone-use in agriculture and I’m running scared! Technology has the capability of letting you down at the most inoppor… Read More
2018-09-12 06:18
For over a week I’ve been attendant at a hospital bedside. I’ve seen at first-hand the best of the NHS, dedicated nurses and doctors doing their very best to heal under difficult… Read More
2018-09-10 06:59
The other day I was in a northern town and next to a car park was a large bougainvillea bush in full flower. I stopped to take a photo, it was only then that I noticed it was covered in butt… Read More
2018-09-08 19:34
This Saturday, in South Africa, a gentle lady fell asleep. Those of us who were lucky enough to meet her will always hold her in our hearts…
There’s an extra-bright star above t… Read More
2018-09-07 18:24
On Friday afternoon I hurried home from visiting my father in hospital and rushed up to the big barn. I admit I was like a little kid! There in the barn was a wonderful sight: a big green co… Read More
2018-09-06 06:15
Recently I visited the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland. In the church there was a woodcarving called ‘The Journey’ by sculptor, Fenwick Lawson (1999)… Read More
2018-09-04 06:35
On Sunday I returned from holiday (reports of the Bard’s demise had been exaggerated!). I immediately went to see my elderly father and discovered him with a badly infected foot. This… Read More
2018-08-25 16:21
Without people, this would just be another rock in space.
There are some people who’s mere presence can make your day and make you smile.
Cherry and Ian seem to have always have been v… Read More
2018-08-15 05:49
Yesterday I was strimming some unruly brambles when I came across an early blackberry. Being one never to miss an opportunity to savour a moment, I took the photo above and then popped the f… Read More
2018-08-14 06:43
Recently my five-year-old granddaughter gave a present for the bathroom. It is rather a fine duck that has acquired the name: ‘Bathroom Duck’. Unfortunately we haven’t hear… Read More
2018-08-13 06:23
What do you carry in your car in case of emergency? The other day I made an attempt to clear out the back of my trusty Mitsubishi Shogun Sport farm car. It was way overdue and I found myself… Read More
2018-08-10 06:04
Yesterday it rained! I’m not talking about a girlie titter after half a glass of sweet sherry but a full-on drunken oaf who can hardly stand on the way home after a night of non-stop a… Read More
2018-08-09 06:23
Very occasionally we have a tenant in our light industrial workshops who expects continued occupation whilst withholding rent. If there is no communication or attempt to pay I have to take a… Read More
2018-08-08 05:52
There is a Welsh legend that in the early days of motoring a Welshman had the idea of carrying a spare wheel in case of punctures. From then on he was known by the name ‘Stepney Spare… Read More
2018-08-07 06:30
This picture illustrates every farmer’s nightmare this year, a harvest fire.
Yesterday we noticed a column of smoke rising from our neighbours farm. I got the cultivator out of the net… Read More
2018-08-06 06:24
I have never understood the connection between the words ‘Fun’ and ‘Run’. For me running inevitably involved an escaped pig when I was younger or errant drone when of… Read More
2018-08-03 06:29
Whenever my daughter and her family pack their motorhome for a few days break, their cat, Min, stages a one-cat-protest. It’s as if she’s been listening in to their conversations… Read More
2018-08-02 05:38
My neighbour John harvesting next to the A505 at Baldock
I’m going to hit the next person who asks if I’m enjoying retirement. That is unless they are taller than me, are wearing… Read More
2018-08-01 06:44
Recently a thread posted by author Terry Tyler on Twitter asked: “What makes you a bookworm?” I answered, “… when you can assemble Billy bookcases by Ikea without lo… Read More
2018-07-31 06:32
I must have been walking around with blinkers on for the last few weeks as suddenly the pavements and sides of the roads seem to be covered in leaves. Autumn has come early and with it a pro… Read More
2018-07-27 06:04
The other day I was looking through a selection of cards in a supermarket when I sensed the frustration of a fellow-shopper. She was having difficulty in finding a suitable card for a friend… Read More
2018-07-26 06:37
The other day I was asked by a local farmer to survey one of his fields with my trusty drone. I was hoping to find any evidence of land drains that might show up in this drought. I overflew… Read More
2018-07-25 06:29
Have you ever been wrong on many counts? I was the other day and it was not long before a stranger told me so! It was a very hot day and I had gone shopping with Mrs Bard. We parked in a sup… Read More
2018-07-23 06:55
Saturday was a truly golden day for our JCB Fastrac tractor, she was delivering a very precious cargo to a venue between Hitchin and Letchworth. Paul, (the father of bride Emma) looked after… Read More
2018-07-20 06:32
I was photographing a historical site the other day that can be traced back 1000 years with my trusty drone (with 20thC drought-scorch and wheelmarks!). It’s amazing what detail a dry… Read More
2018-07-19 06:25
When is a car wash not a car wash? When I decide to pay it a visit! Not only do the NFU Mutual Insurance Company never know what I’m going to come up with next, but these guys are now… Read More
2018-07-18 06:42
Have you ever taken a photo that when looked at later seems to convey a different story to the one envisaged at the time? The above photo shows a pleasant group of retired folk playing p&eac&hell…Read More
2018-07-17 06:56
As a qualified, licensed and insured drone pilot, I am fed up with news stories of near misses with aircraft, like one currently doing the rounds about a near miss with a military helicopter… Read More
2018-07-16 07:52
The other day on a short break I looked around a very old church. Whilst I admired the architecture and suchlike it was a simple grave in the churchyard that caught my eye and made me think… Read More
2018-07-13 07:09
I have been away for a few days. On Wednesday I was in a small village near Cambridge. There happened to be a football match being screened nearby so that not only did we have the commentary… Read More
2018-07-06 06:55
There are people who are fed up with the hot weather, but at the Baldock Saturday Boot Sale we love it! As an added bonus, because the gates open for sellers at 0630hrs, the heat of the day… Read More
2018-07-05 06:14
Yesterday I followed what might be described as a ‘Sixties Classic’ down to the town. I suddenly realised that I had forgotten they existed, and had a flash-back of a press photo… Read More
2018-07-04 06:02
The other day I watched a father paddling down the river with his young daughter and I knew I was witnessing something special. As they passed I called across, “You’ll always rem… Read More
2018-07-03 06:49
On my way to the bank yesterday I passed a caravan parked in a car park. Knowing that some holiday-makers sometimes use car parks for the night with a motorhome, the idea of a caravan parkin… Read More
2018-06-29 06:48
This week I went to a conference/demonstration about soil and alternative methods of farming called Groundswell. I was wandering around looking at the trade stands when I had a ‘Wow, L… Read More
2018-06-28 06:43
Today’s picture was taken by my drone flying just outside a tiny village in the rolling hills of North Hertfordshire that I call home. It shows where the small local road crosses the m… Read More
2018-06-26 06:28
How observant are you of your surroundings? Do you sometimes, like me walk around with a head full of nonsense, and totally fail to spot something right in front of your eyes? Yesterday I wa… Read More
2018-06-22 06:44
Every school group is different, every school visit is different, no two visits have ever been the same even when the visitors are from the same year group and the same school, like yesterda… Read More
2018-06-21 05:26
Yesterday was Wednesday and that meant Brunswick Park (1) in our week of school visits to the farm. We did mostly what we’d done with the previous day’s group, although it was ma… Read More
2018-06-20 06:31
Most parents teach their children the benefits of sharing at an early age. For the last thirty-odd years we’ve shared the farm with school children and it has been one of the most enjo… Read More
2018-06-18 07:19
There are times when you are in the right place at the right time with a camera in your hand. Yesterday was one of those days when a swan went floating by with a cygnet riding on its back&he&hell…Read More
2018-06-15 07:09
While visiting the Cereals 2018 show the other day I met a local farmer who was having trouble with pigeons on her peas. I related the story of how a farmer’s daughter brought back a p… Read More
2018-06-14 13:28
Yesterday I went to Cereals 2018. Various people asked why, when I no longer had any arable acres, did I bother going. At first I couldn’t come up with a good answer. However having mu… Read More
2018-06-13 06:24
Today I’m off to a ‘Farming Show’ called Cereals. This isn’t what non-farmers would think of as a typical agricultural show. It’s a specialist, single-sector, e… Read More
2018-06-12 06:58
Have you ever wondered what you’ll leave behind after your day is done? Perhaps your lasting presence will be preserved in digital bytes on Twitface or similar? A piece of graffiti on… Read More
2018-06-08 06:36
It’s a well-know fact that many farmers make bad gardeners unless they can use a tractor! In my garden I wage a love/hate war with the topiary. Topiary can be compared to a vegetable p… Read More
2018-06-07 06:29
Here on the farm we seem to have gained the reputation as a sanctuary for birds who are abandoned, un-loved or poorly. Our latest recruit is a goose who had a nasty operation that ended with… Read More
2018-06-05 07:13
The other day we took a friend to a local garage to look at a Skoda Yeti. If you remember the 70’s and 80’s, every single motoring joke was about a Skoda (eg why does a Skoda hav… Read More
2018-06-04 07:27
More and more people seem to have less and less time on their hands these days. A two minute wait at traffic lights or a queue of more than four customers at the bank leads to much ‘tu… Read More
2018-06-01 06:58
Walking the dogs this week in rural Cambridgeshire, I came across an abandoned caravan in a small yard miles from anywhere. Such is life, that once you spot one, you spot more and by yesterd… Read More
2018-05-29 14:30
Last week the GDPR regulations came into force for businesses in the UK. As far as I was aware, the only information we stored for the car boot sales was a list of mobile numbers. Therefore… Read More
2018-05-25 07:02
Whenever Mrs Bard and I visit friends by the river, we also see a very busy housewife. She is out at work all day, in the evenings she spends her time either doing housework or raising her y… Read More
2018-05-24 06:15
Like many farmers I have been used to driving large machines all my life, the bigger the better. Some say that, although over sixty, I’m still a big kid. Give me a combine harvester or… Read More
2018-05-22 07:05
I spent last Saturday on a narrow boat moored beside a butter-cup-laden grass field at Hemmingford in Cambridgeshire. As well as being the day of a certain well-publicised royal wedding, it… Read More
2018-05-17 20:02
It is ironic that this weekend when millions are watching a certain wedding on TV, I, in my little corner of the world, have my mind firmly fixed on a wedding in a little Welsh village on th… Read More
2018-05-17 06:32
Driving along the A1 trunk road yesterday, I noticed that many of the speed cameras were hooded. Were they jealous of their cousins who get to go to weddings, parties and happy occasions? Ha… Read More
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