We’re now in our fourth and final week on the organic chicken farm and for the first stop on our trip, it’s been all round pretty awesome. Here are some things we have learnt:
- When chickens are alarmed, like when you approach them too quickly, they spread their wings and squat in place. It’s as if they think “if I’m small and don’t move much, no one can see me”. It’s adorable. So we’ve been scaring chickens quite a lot for our entertainment during the last month.
- Turkeys are a bit stupid (always suspected but now a proven fact).
- You can’t fix a broken tool with a broken tool.
- Sleeping in a car during gale force winds is like being on a boat.
- Heaters are by far the best things to have been invented in the 20th century.
- The police that keep an eye on the royal family at Sandringham are highly suspicious of hobos parked on the side of the road rolling cigarettes.
- Local farmers are a bit tricky to understand when English is your second language.
- There exists such a meal as a 12oz steak with a side of lamb chop, and extra bacon.
- Air hockey is still fun.
Another joint goal of ours was to work on jobs that only needed attention during working hours – that evenings and weekends wouldn’t be overshadowed by the niggling stress of things that needed to be done, or things that went wrong that day, or looming work problems sure to crop up in the next days/weeks/months. So far so good on that front! We’ve been able to plan our days here and enjoy some hard work in the lovely English elements, but when the day’s work is done, it’s done, and our evenings and weekends (and coffee breaks and lunch breaks) are our own.
Norfolk has been a lovely place to spend some time, and we’ve made the most of our weekends with trips to the coast, treats in B&Bs and hosting family guests from both our Austrian and British sides. Fish and chips have become a regular meal, ideally consumed sat outside looking at the sea of course. Our van is a wonderful flat, and we’ve got the daily transformation from living room to bedroom perfected.
After a few days off when we plan to thoroughly de-chickenshit all of our belongings, we’ll be on to the next job, which will probably be when we write the next blog. In the meantime, get sneak previews on Instagram as always, and leave us a message in our guestbook if you want to say hi!