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The Agronomist - A Close Encounter of the Worst Kind!

This time of year we're into crop spraying season, I can spend many days trapped indoors, and that's not only to avoid breathing in fumes. My local farmer uses the services of an agronomist employed by a local agricultural supplier. Thus the agronomist turns up at all kinds of times to stalk about the fields, scuffing and looking at leaves, and doing whatever it is agronomists do.

One morning I was coming home along the bridleway from my normal constitutional with the dog only to see a truck parked in the middle of it a little way up from my house. I didn't really think a lot of it apart from it's a nuisance people just leaving vehicles. That was until a chap jumped out and hastily started to pull up his trousers and pants. He then turned and waved at me before getting back into the truck!

To say I was a bit shocked is probably an understatement. I thought perhaps he had a lady in the car with him and they were up to *whatever* (the lady who trims Star's feet can tell some tales about what she's found in the pull in to her field before now!). So I quickly made my way around past the passenger side without looking in, in case there was someone in a similar state of undress in there.

The problem with trying to hurry a dog in such a situation is they deliberately then want to sniff anything and everything, and take twice as long. When I eventually managed to get her away from the truck I scurried off home glad to be back on my own turf.

My normal routine is to walk the dog then muck out, so I went and got the wheelbarrow and started off down the field. By the time I got to the sheep's bit the truck pulled up. I could see there was only the chap in there and to my complete horror he then got out and came walking over.  I briefly thought about hiding in the field shelter but it was too late, he'd already seen me.

He told me he was the agronomist and then proceeded to offer some garbled explanation about how embarrassed he was, he was just looking at his phone (!) and how ladies don't do this sort of thing. I had to cover little Willow's ears, Milady sheep is an old ewe who's probably heard all sorts of things, but I didn't want Willow having to hear this. I just wanted to hide behind the muck scoop and the sheep were gathered around me giving him one of their hard "are you local??!" stares.

I often wish I was one of these strident, blustery types who could have given him a thorough dressing down and sent him on his way with his tail between his legs, but I'm not. I managed a weak smile and just wanted the whole uncomfortable situation to end to be quite honest. It was such a relief when he got back in his truck and drove off.

I think the local farmer found it somewhat hilarious when I relayed the incident to him because apparently the agronomist had come tearing into the yard straight after and had told him. The truck was parked at the bottom of a the sheep's field a few weeks later and Him Indoors did give the agronomist a flea in his ear about exposing himself on a country byway and sent him on his way. Although he doesn't linger about up here much now, I stay out of the way when he's around just to be on the safe side.




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