Yeah I'm back...After a five mile trek through the English "wilds" - So here I am, the endorphins are flowing, my feet are killing me but I did get a prize for all that hard slog....Geez, I love the flow of endorphins after a long walk...You should try it...
The results are not what I expected, because I started off looking for my usual August suspects, berries, plums and apples...And yes, there were plenty to be found...but in amongst my ramblings there was actually TOO much to collect...I ended up eating much of the fare on offer, especially wild plums...Man, all colours and sizes: Red, deep purple, yellow, pink, red, greenish, oval, round, small, large....etc. I could have brought back kilos of the stuff. I ate it all instead, as I walked.....
Then I took a wrong turn and ended up on some bloody road again going back home (I hate roads, especially English narrow roads, no shoulder at all!!!) and had to dodge cars on the way back...
And then I stumbled on a road side seller selling tomatoes...Like this:
Beautiful eh?
Only 50p for three....
Now, you need to understand that in Britain this is a usual form of trade. Someone who owns a plot of land will grow his choice of vegetable, and if it is good enough, he will flog it...Not for profit, but to share his success and enjoyment with any passer-by...
As I say, it's not about profit, @ 50p for 3 tomatoes, it's a loss all the way for the seller. But in selling the tomatoes, he will impart a sense of pride in the earth he has cultivated in his own backyard...The buyer, will be similarly enriched.
The transaction is not done face to face...In fact, the seller will display his stock on a wooden stand, with asking price, and typically a bucket of some kind is left for the buyer to place the money in the bucket and take his purchase away, without any contact with the seller....It's based on trust...
This is not something one would witness in South Africa and it makes me happy to have immigrated here five years ago...!
