Home Kill Lamb for Christmas

Jeff had his 50th birthday last night and we all trooped over for a hog roast and a quiet drink (or four!). There were some fireworks to enjoy and a bar that Kirsty ran for most of the night ... she had the job sussed in a matter of minutes (not bad for a 9 year old!) . She would have given Betty from Coronation Street a serious run for her money!

I started talking to Mark's (of electric fence testing fame) Uncle Gavin who is a farmer from the north island. Gavin asked me if I would like him to kill one of our lambs for Christmas. It was an offer I could not refuse.

We got up early this morning and played a game of sheep dog in the front paddock. After being given the run around for 15 minutes or so, Mark finally caught the biggest lamb; it weighed in at 26kg. After looking at my array of blunt knives, Mark took them over to his place and got his grinder out.

Some minutes later, with the now sharp knives, Gavin promptly dispatched the lamb and we took it over to the wood shed to skin and gut.


Once complete, the lamb was dressed in a muslin cloth and left to hang to cool. I should be able to move it to the garage later today and butcher it on Monday evening. I used to work as a butchers boy as a young lad in Tom Horsefield's shop in Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, so I am quite happy cutting it up into joints.


I guess we'll be bar-b-que-ing over Christmas and the New Year and no doubt the neighbours will be coming round to help!

I wouldn't have it any other way!

Rural Broadband speed in NZ

I see there are complaints regarding the speed of broadband services where I used to live in the UK, a small rural village called Holme-on-Spalding Moor in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

I live in rural Canterbury about 7 Km away from the village of West Eyreton. NZ Telecom have invested in fibre to the cabinet and I can download in a very rural location (I am 500 metres from the nearest road!) at 4.8 Mb per second which is very reasonable especially when you consider the service is sold with a theoretical maximum speed of 7.6Mbps.



If New Zealand can deliver the services out in the sticks then I have to wonder why the UK struggles to provide similar services? Perhaps more importantly, why do the local politicians allow British Telecom to provide a sub-standard service?

All credit to Howdenshire Cllr Paul Robinson for raising the issue even though he lives outside of the village. What is the resident Conservative councillor, Cllr Doreen Engall, doing about it? My guess would be very little!