All that glistens

Ripening wheat gives me a feeling of wellbeing. In some years, the fruiting bodies of mould turn the ears black and dusty long before harvest. The dry weather has so far kept them golden, in the picture-book fashion, this year, which is even more heart-warming. My half-closed eyes see harvest-home, bags of flour, plaited loaves and corn dollies

Less than half the wheat we grow goes directly into human consumption, of course. Around half is used to feed livestock, with the inherent loss in nutrition that entails. I think that's a number that's hard to justify but, in this particular case, I found myself hoping that's where it's going. I'm standing on a 1m wide strip of grass that is all that separates the busiest road in/out of the village from the crop. No hedge, no headland, no wildlife margin

As it happens, I'm on the journey back from fitting new tyres to the car, and wondering what I'm going to tell the repair garage about the "emission control system failure" warning light that is still randomly coming on and off, when I check it in later this week. The noxious impact of vehicles is in the top of my mind - not so good for the wellbeing