Maggie was now in possession of a new bus pass and had celebrated on Tuesday by taking the bus into Leamington Spa. She had treated herself to a cappuccino and a chocolate twist. It had been good to be out and surrounded by people but the brief exchange over what size drink she wanted and whether she was eating in or out couldn’t be classed as a significant human interaction. There was something oddly isolating about being surrounded by people and yet completely alone.

It was such a faff to get the bus though, as she had to first go in to Compton Mallow, which was in the opposite direction, to then swap buses to Leamington. It was far from ideal and meant it took her almost two hours to get there. She had been pleased to have a brief discussion with a woman on the bus about how manoeuvrable pushchairs were these days. Sadly the woman got off one stop afterwards and that was the last time Maggie spoke to anyone.

All was quiet with the animals. Still no sign of lambs although there had been an alarming drop in egg production, which indicated that Mr Fox may be doing the rounds again. She had time to kill and she needed to set up some pens for the pregnant sheep for when they gave birth. Assuming any of them were pregnant. With the amount of land Maggie had and the undulating nature of most of it, moving things around was a challenge. Providence Farm had once been a thriving sheep farm. On the farmer’s passing the family had been keen to sell and were happy for most of the farm equipment to be included, mainly because they didn’t want the hassle, or cost, of disposing of it. Most of what was left was past its best but at that stage Maggie and her husband had wanted to keep their options open so had inherited the little old grey Ferguson tractor and trailer along with a variety of other farm paraphernalia.

Maggie didn’t own a car. She wasn’t entirely against them but having been a vehement campaigner for saving the planet, long before it was a popular pastime, she was aware of the environmental damage.

It took a few goes to get the tractor started but eventually it chugged into life. Maggie reversed, hitched up the trailer and drove it out of the barn and round to the side of the house. She took a sharp turn to miss one pothole only to hit another bigger one with the trailer, she felt it list dramatically to one side. She switched off the engine and climbed down.