Compost Heap Blog

Dog Walks Across the Downs

One of the best walks I’ve done for a long time was on the South Downs at Harting Down. After a visit to Uppark House (a stunning National Trust House with gardens in a spectacular spot with views over the Sussex countryside with an excellent Tea-room) tired and a little sore after a day in the Blue Machine, a walk seemed the perfect tonic to blow away the cobwebs. The sun had just popped out as well, so all seemed fine on a mid-week evening.
This part of the Downs is far less populated than towards Brighton, although Chichester is only 7 miles away. From the National Trust Car park at Harting Down – just south towards Chichester out of the pretty village of South Harting – an obvious path leads you down onto the South Downs Way. This must be one of the most challenging parts of the South Downs Way. I’d meant only to walk up to the first ridge and admire the view, but as soon as I go there, a mile further on, the next ridge looked higher.
The views from the first ridge were wonderful, looking down onto South Harting and the Countryside beyond. I’d nothing to hurry back for, so I set off for the second ridge and what turned out to be the top of Harting Down. Whereas the walks on the South Downs at Ditching, and Chactonbury, stay relatively flat once you’re on top, the gap between the two ridges at South Harting transpired to be a deep and steep valley. I dropped down in the evening light through gorse bushes in full flower and windswept trees on a chalk path. In the bottom of the valley I stared at the slope to come, a certain black run and a long one.
Pausing once to catch my breath, the rewards at the top were sensational. On top of Harting Down you can see the Hogsback, near Haslemere at least 20 miles away, East Head the entrance to Chichester Harbour 10 miles away or so, the spire of Chichester Cathedral, the spinnaker tower in Porstmouth, Goodwood Racecourse and the Isle of Wight in the far distance all glimpsed across pristine and glorious countryside.
As I arrived back in the car park, a worried looking girl rushed up and asked if I’d lost a dog – obviously single men walking without dogs are highly suspicious! There in her car was a beautiful Lurcher puppy found on the busy B-road which ran between South Harting and Chichester. I’d seen one walker with two Labs, and not searching for a dog, and a runner without hound on my entire walk. The dog was muddy and out of breath and had obviously run a long way. We put a note up in the Car Park saying ‘Dog (Lurcher type puppy) Found on Road Unharmed. Taken to Vet in Chichester, and left the Vets number’. There were no other cars in the car park, and we both wondered if this was the correct course of action.
Just as I was jumping in my car, another car whistled into the car park with the Lurcher search party. It turned out that the puppy was called Darryl and had left his master on a jog 2 miles away over an hour before. The man had rung his wife in a panic saying he’d lost the dog. The search party were happily reunited with a bouncy Darryl…wonderful. I drove home thinking about what is the right thing to do if you find a dog – is it to ring the local police station or is a local vet the right course of action?
Dog or no dogs if you’re looking for some inspiration and a chance to raise the spirits high, pull on those wellies and test out Harting Down!

Petrol Prices

It’s very clear driving around the country that the majority of people are sensitive to petrol prices. You can tell a garage with cheaper than average prices by the number of people at the pumps. Even though the savings in real terms are often less than a pound, there’s a great sense of relief that one petrol station is trying to do everything to help out the cash-strapped nation. But should it all be doom and gloom?

I often watch people driving around, nearly all in shinier cars than the Blue Machine, and wonder what they do for a living. We all have aspirations and dreams and earning a crust is crucial in this? But is it that simple? Is this the key to happiness? Certainly most people I meet for work, and they’re usually in rural businesses, rather than on the high street, are really worried by life. This is not helped by the news everyday telling us we’re doomed. This can have a knock on effect, causing mass anxiety and apprehension.

So are we smiling enough? Was it more fun living 10, 20, 30 years ago. I’m sure not, everyone has highs and lows – we’re just in the middle of a group low. There’s no instant solution, but small steps can put us back on the right track. Our local pub has a Monday night village night with excellent prices. It’s very well attended, and gives everyone a chance to relax, unwind, gain solace in the fact there are people out there who’ll listen, offer advice, help for free.

Maybe this is the change – we’re losing the power of people. We’re relying too much on machines, technology - what they tell us. We’re losing the incredible power of people moving in one direction. ‘Done because we’re too many’ – the words of Father Time in Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. Although its true we’re such a large population on a relatively small island, I think it’s ‘Done because we’re so few’. We need a positive response to difficult circumstances – it’s not all about maximum profits Tesco, John Lewis, Shell, BP, Santander…the list of corporates sadly goes on and on? Can you just keep going making bigger and bigger profits forever?

A little help at the petrol pumps would be nice… but a little bit more of old love, smiles, laughs and tickles would be much nicer still… summer’s only just round the corner! Get out as often as possible and mingle…

Travelling Sales Tales

As travelling salesman, we not only have the pleasure of finding the best petrol stations in the country (and I know my number 1 – I’ll put a picture up here next week when I pass it), but we also have the joy of driving a variety of sales mobiles. The Blue Machine is already in the salesman’s Hall of Fame, it makes my eyes moist to think of the unrequited love that car has given over the past 9 years.

Unrequited love wouldn’t be the way I’d describe the white vans we often rent in order to deliver large stock items or exhibit at Fairs. These white vans are the rejects of the fleet world, the rejects of the private van world, and find themselves 250,000 miles later as the cheapest vans in the country to rent. Don’t worry that all the lights show on the dashboard before you start or that none of the locks or doors work – it’s a cheap van and will happily get you from A to B. Just don’t look at the seats too closely.

On my last trip to Newcastle I needed a white van to take a whole exciting pallet of brand new designs from the Compost Heap. I made the mistake of relying on the petrol gauge in the van. Since the rental company drains the remaining fuel out of every van on return, the gauge must’ve been altered. With a quarter of a tank and fresh wind in my sails travelling north on the A1, the poor white van came to a juddering halt. I managed to pull off the road and roll into a lay-by. Sadly no sign of a petrol station…

I discovered from an elderly lady in her dressing gown that the nearest petrol station was 5 miles away. It was a long walk along an overgrown verge, but actually not too cold once I got going. I did try hitch-hiking, but nobody seems that keen - does anyone ever pick up hitch-hikers now? Luckily the extremely friendly petrol station knew of a local taxi, which popped me back at the poor white van. After 250,000 a few things are going to be falling off…