Gerald Potterton farms tillage and some beef at Kildalkey, Co Meath. \ Jack Caffrey
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On a Sunday afternoon at around this stage in the harvest, I usually do what’s called the annual state-of-the-nation drive. It’s a rather grand title for what is, in effect, a countryside drive to assess how the harvest has progressed.
The August bank holiday Sunday seemed like a good opportunity, as we were not combining after a drizzly morning. Yes, it’s normally far too early for such a drive, but if nothing else, this is an early harvest. The Stradbally Steam Rally was on and it would also serve as a state-of-the-nation drive to the beautiful tillage heartlands of Kildare, Laois and Carlow. The steam rally is an annual eulogy to the glory days of steam, with clouds of coal smoke and it’s great in these woke days that such an event still takes place. You come home smelling like you’ve decommissioned the coal-fired Moneypoint. But the atmosphere is wonderfully evocative.
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On a Sunday afternoon at around this stage in the harvest, I usually do what’s called the annual state-of-the-nation drive. It’s a rather grand title for what is, in effect, a countryside drive to assess how the harvest has progressed.
The August bank holiday Sunday seemed like a good opportunity, as we were not combining after a drizzly morning. Yes, it’s normally far too early for such a drive, but if nothing else, this is an early harvest. The Stradbally Steam Rally was on and it would also serve as a state-of-the-nation drive to the beautiful tillage heartlands of Kildare, Laois and Carlow. The steam rally is an annual eulogy to the glory days of steam, with clouds of coal smoke and it’s great in these woke days that such an event still takes place. You come home smelling like you’ve decommissioned the coal-fired Moneypoint. But the atmosphere is wonderfully evocative.
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