Last on the Card – March 2024

by 2e0mca on April 1, 2024April 1, 2024

Start of a new month and time to join in with Brian’s Last on the Card Challenge😎👍

I’m going to be a bit naughty this time – As my long-suffering Canon 5D has been retired from active duty, I will share the last footy shot of the month as well as the last general shot from the Fujifilm X-H2s.

This week all my shots were taken on Saturday 30/03/2024. Lets go earliest to latest.

Saturday’s football match was an away game over at Hornchurch which entailed getting a train out to Upminster Bridge. There are a couple of ways to get there and my preferred option this time was to go down to Bank on the Northern Line and then take the DLR to Limehouse where I would catch the c2c service to Upminster. I took this shot of 357003 with the Fuji X-H2s while waiting for my train at Limehouse…

Once I got to Upminster it was a single station hop on the District Line back to Upminster Bridge. From there it’s a short walk to the ground along the A124 Upminster Road and up Bridge Avenue. This shot of the A124 was taken using the Moto g50…

…Some serious cropping and that will be a nice shot😂

Finally, after the match against league leaders Hornchurch, I have this shot of three of our players leaving the pitch. The Fuji X-H2s’ metering has really been conned by the light in this one😅…

…Ben seems to be offering some advice to Bobby. Something along the lines of “Stop showing your underwear to the cameraman – he gets all excited!” 🤣 As a post script, Hornchurch could have won the league and promotion on the day with a win. Instead we became the first team to beat them at home this season and, in doing so, keep our own play-off hopes alive. The Isthmian League’s own reporter was there to watch the match so for once there is an unbiased report on the game.

All photos as taken, just resized for the web😎👍

Bure Valley Farm

by 2e0mca on March 31, 2024March 31, 2024

The depths of winter in the Bure Valley – January / February. It’s cold and it’s quiet. The land is frozen and there is little we can do except watch a slowly ticking clock…

Of course, there’s always something on a farm that can be done – just nothing relating to crops. Instead, I use the lull in field preparation to get some routine maintenance done by taking implements down to the dealer in the snow…

… I got all the implements serviced in January so that I’d be ready when work restarted in March.

I also took the Claas front-loader down to the dealer, annoying the motorists in the process, to pick up a bale handler and a pallet fork – tools that we will need in the coming year. I also looked at flatbed trailers but didn’t buy just yet. I did take the opportunity to check how my crops were growing…

…Canola looking good as was the Barley.

There is no work to be had and when I check the lay of the land it’s easy to see why…

…Everything is already ploughed, cultivated or sown. The planting chart shows we can’t really sow anything until March…

…So we’re all in limbo and relying on the government subsides to keep us afloat, that and a small amount of income from the solar units I had installed.

Even at this time of the year, we still need to work at improving the farm though. Taking the front-loader down to the garage to refuel is not a good thing. I decided to get a fuelling station installed on the farm. They are not cheap, so I have opted for a temporary solution with a tank that sits on bare ground…

…In the future, I will replace this with a permanent structure – A bit like I’ll get a permanent farmhouse🤣 Jokes aside, it is a temporary compromise and will get replaced. In the future I will also need to have my own repair facility but that is a way off for now. And ultimately, we’ll need more storage room so that I can expand into root crops.

March is just around the corner. It’s going to be a big year ahead for the farm. I’m feeling the loss of the Fendt 515c and I know a new tractor is a high priority with just the John Deere 7810 to do the work. I’ve been doing my research and think I know what tractor I want. But I’m going to have to earn a lot of money first! In the meantime, I can enjoy the winter sun…