I long for dirt under my nails

Ah today is one of those down days. After a weekend of weeding and baking and holding baby goats going back into an environment where words like GP and Margin are all important was quite awful. Once again I am sat in an office with the heating on poring over letterheads and forms as if the world would stop without them. I want to have dirt under my nails and the urgency of getting my bread in the oven or making sure the animals have been cleaned out.

I've said it before and I'm sure I will say it again but I long for simplicity. A simple life is hard work. There is much more to do and the hours are long. You can't call in sick when you have animals to look after or when you have to plant the vegetables or they'll never grow. Come rain or shine (or snow or wind) the work never stops. On top of all this the house still needs tidying, the clothes still need ironing (and mending and indeed making), the food still needs cooking.

But oh how I long for those days. I want to go to bed tired and aching. Because in that exhaustion and in those aches I will have satisfaction of a job done. I will know that I am helping my animals to have a healthy life and by extension my family. My job will feel worthwhile because it has a real purpose.

I know that to the people who use the products I deal with they are important. But the kind of industries I deal with just don't hold any interest for me. When the most important thing in your job is how much money you can make without caring how it affects anyone else I just feel so sad. How anyone hopes that western society is not broken is beyond me.

Ok, that's quite enough doom and gloom from me. Let have a picture of the backwards Ladybug I saw this weekend.