Water of Life

Had to try tackling the new lawn tractor, parked in a lonely dark corner of the horse stables with no one interested in it. I wish I hadn't.

What a mess. There are only a few things that need to be done when buying such an object. It's 99% only putting together the final bits on the rear bag grass collector. It's not normally that complicated but seldom are the instruction manuals & diagrams well written and illustrated. Having done a similar exercise 4 years ago with the previous tractor, I at least knew what we were trying to achieve.

However, in this case, the DIY store had "done" all the work for us. What you would expect if you bought a machine from a proper garden equipment dealer. Although it was evident on Thursday when we collected it that the service person hadn't really got much clue, today was a true revelation of incompetence.

The one saving grace was that the manufacturer, McCulloch (Husqvarna) hadn't done their work right in the first place & their mistakes would confuse anybody who didn't have a clue. When putting the bits of the cloth bag together, they had managed to put bolts through three different locations in the fabric when the entire bag must hang freely from the metal frame. It was therefore impossible for the bag to fit properly.

To cut it short, 5 hours later had it sorted & the bullbar fitted, with lots of swearing but luckily I was alone. As I now need to register our new purchase online with McCulloch, I will be assisting them with some comments about their quality control & dealer support training (if indeed they do any).

Mumbling under my breath, loaded poor old Luna into the car for a cooling-off walk & for her a swim. She tried to ignore my occasional swear word as I talked to myself composing my letter.

At the lake met a young (25-30)very smart-looking guy from Augsburg in a flash Mercedes V12 Biturbo estate with all the sporting accessories and a dog cage in the back with a sticker "Rottweiler". While I threw a ball on the road for Luna to dry off, we had an interesting chat. The town Rottweil is not far away in the next state Baden-Württemberg, famous for its carnival and while not in Wiki, also the place where Angie was .... well... "invented". The dog breed is known in Germany also as Metzgerhund or Butcher's Dog as they were used to round up cattle & then later for pulling carts loaded with the meat. I didn't get to see his dog in person but saw some photos on his phone of the dog with his one-year-old daughter. Only mention the above as I simply love meeting young, sensible people regardless of what they do, enjoying life but responsibly. Cheers up one's view of the world particularly if like me, you are buried in the hate & war-like environment of Twitter & Brexit.

While at the lakes, couldn't hear any sign of the gypsy camp close by & thought they may have packed up & moved on. However driving back through the village, saw Farmer Blank about to leave his yard with tractor & trailer loaded with 3,000 liters of freshwater. By the time I had stopped to get the camera, he was some way down the road. The young guy in his flash blue sporting BMW was a little concerned at my camera and so kept his speed low!

"I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely". Revelation 21.6

I don't know if Farmer Blank has been contracted by the council - and thus we parishioners are paying for the water - or if the Romani group are paying for it. Seldom is there anything in this life for free. Listening, empathy & a few words of encouragement don't cost much.

PS Farmer Blank is the one with a Milk Self Service Filling Station (Milchtankstelle) in the village which appears on the map if anyone looks at the geotag

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