Stone Clearing With Richard Herring - Chapter 5

Episode Date: December 10, 2018

Chapter 5: Dementia Dog. It's 8.20am on December 9th 2018 and conditions are breezy with occasional drizzle. The ground is still moist, which should be a worry for those who are concerned about global warming, but it's great news for stone clearers. Covered in this chapter: whether it's heresy to wear any type of clothing on the field; how to deal with sibling stones; marking your territory; what happens when you encounter an unfriendly dog owner; being the first non-bald man to wear a head torch; how the stone gods show their pleasure; where do the new stones come from; and why are all the cairns so pathetically small after all this time. Plus an encounter with Fred and his friends. If you have any questions or would like to sponsor the podcast, email [e-mail]. Find out more about stone clearing at http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup Today Richard was wearing Petgrow Cut Resistant Work Gloves Level 5 Hand Protection, available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07GRVQ2BF/comedyguide-21/ Richard has not been paid for this glove endorsement. But is happy to be paid for other endorsements. If you think your dog might have dementia this website can help you identify the symptoms. http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/dementia-in-senior-dogs-6-ways-to-deal-with-the-effects There are no charities running at the moment for dogs with dementia, only for dogs for people with dementia. When will there be people for dogs with dementia?

Stone Clearing with Richard Herring Hello there and welcome to chapter 5 of Stone Clearing with Richard Herring. It's the 9th of December. We're heading out around 8.20am for the first Stone Clearing day. Also we'll be of course walking Wolfies. We're just approaching the path up to the field. I think it might be a little bit of a free for all in today's podcast but I'd like to talk a little bit about equipment. At the end of the last podcast we had equipment fail. The gloves that I was using became corrupted. And a bit of a big hulk. By the flint I think that when I was going unshod with my hands,

un-gloved, degloved if you like, if you're a fan of Adam Kay, I was getting cuts and abrasions. That still happens with gloves. And I know there's a lot of controversy about whether we should be using modern inventions like gloves at all in Stone Clearing. I mean that's probably partly what this podcast will be about. A lot of people feel quite strongly that gloves should never be used. I don't think they should always be used. I think it's important to get the authentic experience from the age of today's that those original Stone Clearers would have had. But, you know, someone did email in and argue about why I was wearing gloves. The original Stone Clearers wouldn't have had shoes. They wouldn't have had trousers. Many Stone Clearers just basically walked around wearing a primitive nappy.

And some of those, not even that. I would just urinate on my hands, defecate. Just let the poo fall behind them like a cow or a horse might. So, you know, if you're going to try and claim to be authentic, then I'd like to see you out on a muddy December night or day naked as the day you were born. I think what's as important to stay true to the roots of this noble profession just kicking a few stones aside. I'm picking up as I go a little bit. Nothing too exciting as yet. It's just the usual. I'm still amazed as I kind of walk along this route that I've walked along a hundred, two hundred times. Maybe I don't know. There still are stones, quite big stones, right next to the path.

I mean, I'm not even having to now get my way out. The ground's still a bit soft today, so I kick this baby out and that's a massive one. And that's like three inches from the path, the shore. So, yes, oh, my dog, these hands have tanned. So, yeah, it's a nice little kick there. It's something that only you can decide. As I say, I think it's important to at least occasionally be on the actual temperature of the stones in your bare hand. I wouldn't go as far as coming out naked and not in these winter months, just to be authentic. But, yeah, I mean, I've been trying various things. I've bought some new gloves.

These are gloves that are used by people carrying stone and stuff around in, I can't remember what they're called. I will show a picture of them in many links where you can get these if you want. This is then my third go with them, so I'm not sure how suitable they are. They've got metal, I think, in them, which means that it's harder to cut them. So, that shouldn't be okay. And they do seem to give you the necessary degree of pliability. They're not restricting. Look at this, just again, how can it be that after all this time, there's just four stones. I mean, there's a lot of stones.

So, look at that baby, that's quite big. Have I missed that in the past? What's the rain to wash away the soil? I think the stones do grow and do become bigger again. So, yes, I do wear a coat, again, a modern coat, not some kind of old smock. I do wear Wellington boots or walking boots are probably better. Wellington's, I find, it's quite hard to get your trousers into them. And they don't necessarily have the full kicking ability that you want on a day like today when you can just kick the stones out of the earth.

It's sort of worrying to me that we're on December the 9th. And I've only had one really frosty day, properly frosty day. Obviously, last podcast was a little bit frosty, but the earth was still pliable. That is a worry. I mean, it's good in a way, of course. It means it's easy to clear the stones, and that's really all that's important. The stones don't mind whether there's global warming. They will survive anything that we can throw at them. But it's worrying for humanity, I suppose, that global warming is affecting us this way.

So, yes, boots, I think it's all right to wear shoes. Again, they don't do as the past would probably have toes so supple and nimble they could kick stones out with their actual toes. And yeah, this is an amazing crop today. I mean, this just seems, this is the path I walk down the most. And just everywhere I'm looking, there's thousands of stones. I mean, there always are, obviously, but it's still slightly weird that there are so many so close to the path.

And science can try and explain that all it likes. But I think the only answer is stone elves putting out more stones every night. Because there's none come off, the cans are all the size they were, but they're all slightly getting bigger. I can see that one, about 67 nice, nice size. Smalls, medium stones going down on there. Now, this is quite a second part of the field that I'm daring to head a little way out on because this is kind of littered with fairly big stones I could just see on the top. There's no one around at the moment, so I'm going to take my chances.

Look at that, that's a Millennium Falcon toy size. This one's a big one, and it's literally just, I'm telling you, it's a big flat, but it's, that is the size of a sort of flattened melon. If you can imagine the size of melon, I mean. So yeah, there, I've just picked up four or five good sized stones. And I'm only, oh, and now it's getting this difficult thing with so many I want to try and get them all. Another two, but I'm in danger of overloading. Oh, but look at this one.

It's like a boomerang shake, that's quite interesting. Luckily, no one had to see me transgressing onto the field, but again, only six or seven feet into the field. And I found almost more stones than I can carry. And left behind quite a lot of these, except on some mudbed, I don't know if you've got them. Cool. And I'll put that big flat one on the top of that developing can. I mean, I'm sort of excited when you all accept my mating can. I seem to be putting hundreds and hundreds of stones on them, and they don't really seem to be getting bigger.

They're not getting smaller, but a bit out of breath today. So yeah, so equipment-wise, I did buy a head torch. Someone recommended a head torch. That's another thing. Of course, in the old days, the nighttime stone clearance would have had to be carrots and trying to up their night vision that way, even though they would not have known of that urban myth that was invented in the womb. Or two at that point, they still would have tried it because they tried everything to make their vision better. But we can use illumination if we choose.

I did buy a head torch. I said to someone, I'm not going to say I used a head torch. That's what I'm going to recommend. Well, so yeah, when it's interesting, it's a different kind of ethereal light, and it caught the leaves and made them look like tin foil. It was quite scary. It also caught my dog's eyes and made my dog look like the dog of Lucifer, which is a very scary nighttime. I'm already having contenders. Rumors in the village of a strange ghoul that haunts this field at night, a sort of stooping figure muttering to itself,

flinging bits of detritus from the field to the edge. I presume it's the ghost of some long head stone killer, but it's sort of a wave. A lot of the villagers won't come up to the field at night because of that guy. I've never seen him. But yes, I wore a head torch, but I don't know how that head torch really works with if you are a long-haired gentleman as I am, because more often than not, without having to sort of strap back my hair entirely or kind of behood myself, which the hair just flies up in the wind and gets in the way of the head torch. And it's actually a lot less convenient than just using a handheld torch.

I would say at the end I just use the handheld torch because I'm not so annoyed. So I'll look into seeing if I can make that work better. I guess most people who have head torches are sort of strange, sad, bald, old men, and usually someone with real health and youthful as I am would not have bought one of those. I guess the head torch is generally only used by those who are otherwise given up in life and don't care how stupid they look. So again, I'm about, I don't mean to say 10 feet from the shore of this ocean, and picking up three or four little stones here just to go on my second biggest ken. Just deciding whether to cut across to the main ken now or go around the edge and cut across the middle.

No one around, as I can see at the moment, which is good, of course, for stone clearing. A couple of loose stones here that I suspect might be ones I've thrown from the middle of the field in previous stone players, which again, that's an important thing to remember. Just try and get them to the edge as much as you can. But yeah, so I'm still looking for the perfect torch. I'm still looking for the perfect glove wear. These seem to be OK, the gloves I'm wearing. And you do get, they don't make you very warm.

They're not designed for warmth, and you do get a feeling of the coldness of the stones, even on a rent for the bar. It's very windy until you're hearing Sunday morning in December, which is worrying. A few comments coming in from you at home. The urinating on the ken created a lot of interest with one person going to touch about that. And I didn't meant to say the point that they made, but of course, the urinating on the kens does also mark out the field as yours to other animals and to sophisticated stone players. If you go into a field, sniff the kens, if you sense the urine of another stone player,

then obviously that is a sign to move on, find your own field. If you're an honourable stone player, if you're not kind of nightwalk and tries to swoop in, steal the accolades deserved to another, literally steal the stones sometimes, of course, and make your own kens with them. It's something we have to watch out for in this noble calling. So do urinate on the stones, I think, is generally accepted because of that. Some people wear that health and safety implication. And this, by magic, just to make that point, Wolfie just knelt down there and did a tiny little wee

just to illustrate what I meant to anyone with a sophisticated enough hearing to hear a dog wean three or four feet away. So tiny wee. She was just making the point, the very point I'm making, that part of ground. I mean, it wasn't even on the stuch as an idiot in a lot of ways. It's good to have a dog wee. That's a very important piece of equipment because if you're just walking around the field, picking up stuff, that can look suspicious.

But if you have a dog, you can always pretend you're picking up their PCs, which is less embarrassing than saying you're picking up stones. Of course, you could possibly, and people have asked about this, whether it's allowable to train your dog to find the stones for you. I would, I hope that through repetition, my dog will sort of get the idea that I am very interested in stones and she will start finding them for me and maybe weeing on them or just standing over them with a pointing with her nose to pay her for the good one. I'm approaching the part of the field where again, there's generally a pretty healthy

crop of fairly medium sized, good sized stones. They're going around at the moment to see me doing this, so I'm taking a chance and veering away from shore a little bit. What's this one? Is this going to be a, this could be a good one. No, it's about as big as it looks. I thought it might be sort of iceberg stone there where it's a little bit peaking above. Oh, and the thing I wanted to talk to you about today as well was something that happened to

me on the last stone clear is when you spot two stones next to each other that are separated but clearly were once together. Now this happens a lot especially on a field where there's plowing. Stones will of course shatter and if you can find two of these at what I call the sibling stones, I'm not going to presume to know how they want to be identified as a sect. And I think we're getting to a whole new area there to talk about sects of stones. Some people do believe in that but they are very much asexual. I think it is at least polite to attempt to keep those brother, sister sibling stones,

what everyone would call them, sibling stones are really making a mistake there but I think keeping them together in the afterlife of being on the field. Oh, that's quite a nice medium size one. They're flat on the top but bumpy beneath. So that for me, that's how I feel we should be going is to just kind of dig out. One that looks a bit easier to dig out than it is. I love being able to use my feet at this time so yeah, it's good to keep them together in the same can at least. And my belief is that like human beings, all stones are related.

That's the thing that's easy to see the divisions created by space and time. Once all these stones were literally the part of one massive stone and over time, it's a sad way to reproduce in that every child you create makes you yourself lesser. But it's sort of good in a way though because I'm not wearing big socks today and one of my socks has rolled up inside my boot and that is a huge stone clearing error there. That is why the stone clears in the past did tend to go unshoved because it's really uncomfortable when you're wearing a low quality sock. I mean this is a high quality sock but it's just old.

And now half my foot is in the boot on its own and half my foot is scrunched up stock on it. So yeah, so try and keep those sibling stones together unless you're a cruel stone player who likes to separate them and teach them a lesson. That's up to you. People play a stone for different reasons. I have a love hate relationship with these stones and partly I love them and want to keep them together and respect them and of course partly they are my enemies creating this task for me. That I can never really hope to complete. Oh, that's a nice one. Oh, I wish I had been here to see that.

I was hopeful it was going to be big and it was pretty big. Oh, and Wolfie's. No, she's fine. So yeah, the people of Hertfordshire are sleeping today and while the dog walkers are asleep, the stone here is Chalvetier. That is what he's saying. It just gives you the chance. I can see the whole field from here and it is massive. It really gives you a scale when you can see this.

What a task I have set myself here. I mean, I could have gone for a much smaller field. This field is immense and I'm still basically finding loads of stones within the two metres around the periphery. So wish me luck, but they may live long enough and be able to bend long enough to get properly out into that middle of that field. Well, obviously things get harder. See here, the stone needs to be like three or four segments that may want to be together and I shall keep them together as they shall want.

I mean, there will be another reason that I'm just checking them out. But they're in the same basic area and I think that's good enough. So yeah, so if you have any ideas about torches, if you have created a torch you think would work well for stone clearing, I guess I'd head torch on some kind of swimming. That would be the next thing for me. I mean, they're going to seem just this bit of park is screwing the stones. It's insane. That's not even the field and yet I still feel juicy down to get them a little bit to the edge

and down the consequences, of course, as we do with all of this. So the top corner of the field now where I have this ken, there is a lot of stones around here and I do like to try and throw the stones onto this if no one's around, but also I met my most exposed, plus there are, there's that log, there might be a dog here watching. You may remember from the last podcast, it's also very possible for a dog to just come around the corner and find what I'm doing and then me having to quickly think of an excuse as to why I'm picking up stones in the field and throwing them towards a pile of stones. I'm pretty sure no one knows what I'm doing in the villages yet, so I just have to spec some spit out there.

That's another thing, you know, in this winter time. The nose does get a bit runny at times and there is no place for a handchef within the stone clears arsenal, so I'm just going to pick some for you that I'm going to place on the ken. Again, I mean, pitifully small. How many months have I been doing this and I've been just placing stones here? It just doesn't seem to improve at all. I did spot a good one. I thought back here, I want to come back. Well, my hair is just blowing in my face anyway, regardless of, oh, is it this one? I mean, there's so many here. And then I'll just throw it and that one hasn't really gone that near, but it's near enough that at some point in the future

it won't be part of the wall. Oh, that one just bounced very close to the ken. I just wouldn't be able to hear the click. There was a little clink. Yeah, I mean, it's easy to lose heart in this corner. I heard a dog barking after a little bit careful. That one's too deeply embedded, sucked into the earth. The earth clamping it in there, jaws, wet jaws refusing to let it go. This one though, very much lying on the top. That one's just going to the side. I'm now too far from the ken so I really hope to hit it, but I'm going to get into that verge.

Again, remember, watch out for other dog walkers when you're throwing from this distance. These are good sized stones that can really hurt someone and only do this if you're confident in your stone throwing ability. Oh, so yeah, as I was coming up here the other day, the day after I was doing my last stone playing podcast, I don't recall all of these, I'm not mental. Most people are very friendly, as you'll have observed from the few we've met so far on this short journey we've taken together. But this guy was a bit odd and Watery came up, she was on the lead, I was just hitting this guy with a little dog that Watery was going towards to say hello to, and then the guy went crazy and said,

Pull her in, pull her in. He was just immediately rude, he could have just been pained and maybe take her back. Just took calmly, but he was terrified. I wasn't pulling her in straight away because I knew that she wasn't going to do anything, but also she was, I had the ability to just stop her moving forwards. Get them, pull her in, pull her in. I've known dogs all my life. And I think he has done no dogs that well, does he? At night he's had some fun with that stuff, they're just messing around.

So he said, it's not worth taking the risk. I said to him, you don't know my dog, I told him not to be rude. And I would love to have got that exchange, but hopefully we'll meet him again another day. And he's sort of my dog-walking enemy. If he knew what it was, I had two or three stones in the palm of my hand, he hadn't seen them. If he'd known what I was doing, I think he would have, he'd have got furious as well, because he probably started moaning about what ecological damage I was doing. You know, like people like that do, you're probably one of them.

That's not that important. So I'm picking up, I'm walking the long length of the field now, hoping I won't come the other direction. I'm just starting to pick up stones as I approach the midway to the midway, if you understand what I'm talking about. And some nice ones here, actually. And I mean, literally, there is more stone than soil, as I'm looking at right into the distance across this patch of the field. Many of these stones are tiny. I think we can afford to try and take the bigger ones mainly as, especially if you're transporting them a distance, because obviously small ones will fall from by grass.

But yeah, I am more than support for choice. If I was the kind of person who felt, oh my God, I have to pick up every single stone right now, then I would never get hungry, because even if I chose this one meter square, it would take me an hour to pick up all of those. And as I constantly say, this is about patience, being patient, but not being complacent. You have to understand the magnitude of what you're doing, how long it will take. Try and work out how long you're going to live, work out how many stones you have to take. The fields of Rome were not cleared in a day. They were not. That is just true.

It took a long time to clear those stones from the fields that would make Rome. By the time they cleared them, there were seven hills of stones, and then that's where they built Rome, using some of the stones from the stone clearing to be the ones that actually make Rome itself. But my point is that another that happened in a day, that was several days, and there's a dog worker off in the distance, three Labradors by the looks of it, is heading away from me. Oh, there's another one in the corner over there, but I have at least escaped and can carry my booty off. Admittedly, I've got to carry away the Rome thing and stop picking up stones,

and I've only got sort of six mediums, but that's not a bad little call to crack into this centre. Centre, Ken, which is coming on pretty well compared to the others. Partly because once I'm out here, there aren't strange men chatting and we're back running her in, and I can see the whole field and know who's around. I can gather quite a few, and on those kind of days where it's rainy and I don't want to walk around too much, that could be quite a useful area to dump. Now, someone's just arrived at the entrance to feel that we're currently approaching,

suddenly having no dog walkers around. It's almost like a bat thing that's gone out that police rich in herring. Whoopie! Come here. Whoopie! Good girl. Why don't you try and find some stone, just stupid dog, and stand over there and go, whoof, whoof!

Why don't you do that when I've got one? Just try to get the lead on there again, people. So, oh, that lady, she's arrived in Chelsea heading off, so I might, I'm just trying, it's a complicated game of chess. Well, in fact, I think every dog walker is heading, actually one of them has disappeared off the field, that's good news. The other one is heading off to the left as I approach this gate. It's heading across the field towards my second major career, he's passed the main camp,

probably looked at it and thought, what's going on? I wonder who's doing that? Looking around, could it be them? Could it be them? No idea that it's me. The Behattet, I think we're a lady, I think it is a lady. They're far enough away from me, I'm not sure. Heading off to the other corner of the field.

Well, I'm ready to go now. Oh my goodness, and there's a beautiful rainbow. It has appeared in the sky. I think it's starting to rain a little here, that's the occupational hazard we were talking about, where there are a lot from this podcast. But that is actually beautiful. I mean, that is the stone god smiling down at me, isn't it?

I mean, they're upside down, so it looks like a prayer and from our point of view, they're pleased with what I've done. They've forgiven me for weaning on some of the cans, possibly. I wish I could take a photo of my camera, my phone being used for recording, I don't want to mess that up, but also I reckon it probably would be a photograph for a while. That's weird that that should appear at this point of walk,

this is the point of walk where I tend to get philosophical, where it tends to the frustrations of stone clearing start to abate and I start to think a little bit about life, my position in the universe. Who am I? The airport is falling out there, it has an effective transmission.

It has, sorry, missing all this gold that's about to come up. So, yeah, I just picked up a nice chunky, mini millennium falcon there to give you some idea of the size, it's not like the size of the proper god. And that lady is now coming across from the centre, so she sort of saw me, I think her dogs aren't that well,

so I think she's playing a different game of chess, in some ways less embarrassing, which she's just trying to keep her dog away from other dogs, and I'm keeping the game of chess for later on, trying to keep them walking sort of away from me, but I also do like encountering them and putting that on the podcast. It's sort of like a role-playing game from the 80s,

where I mean that I just don't have to talk my way out of stuff. Come on, Wolves. So, I'm walking off the field because there are witnesses, I've only managed to sneak down and pick up that mini millennium falcon that gives you an idea. I mean, it's like an apple that's been punched from both sides, and therefore flattened out a bit. You know, the size of apple I'm talking about, right?

Wolves is interested in those dogs, but they're far enough away, I think, and she is on her leash. And if you ask for like, I will pull her in, mate, but you know, if you shout at me like I'm an idiot, then it's going to be difficult, that's all I'm saying. That's what I wish I'd said to that guy. So coming into this can from the entries from the footpath, this is something that I used to go home this way,

but it seems a waste of my resources to not go home via the field entrance, so there's four or five going on. Again, there's a pathetic reel that really can. Given how many I feel I've put on there, that feels like it should be a lot bigger, and I'm going back because I did just spot a couple of nice possibilities back here. Where were they? I mean, that's it.

So what I'm saying, that patience, it's about knowing that you will be back. This isn't the one I was going for, but this is an adequate replacement. I wonder where they dipped. Was it that one, maybe it was? Oh yeah, that's quite good. Again, that right by the path. A reasonable size stone you think I would have found by now,

but there it is. The rainbow is gone, but I think that is my gift. My pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was that stone, it wasn't really at the end of the rainbow, but it was at the end of where I saw the rainbow, so I think that still works. So we're approaching the popular part of the field, where there's the throw.

It's a little game this bit. I mean, eventually it will, of course, lead to its own little bit of wool. I picked up three stones I managed to find there, and the pole, I would say six feet away from the path, indicating which way for walkers to go, but I'm trying to hit it and create a little care and from a distance underneath,

or that will miss, but hit a different pole. Or that one hit the stones, but not the pole. And that one I think you clearly hear. That 10 points, if you're keeping score, 10 points today for that, if you're keeping score. So yeah, I hope you've enjoyed today's podcast. I think that's mainly what I wanted to talk about. As I say, I'll post a link to where you can buy

the same gloves as me if you want to. I mean, I would say this version, they're gray, so they pick up the dirt quite a lot. The package says they're washable. That means machine washable, just washable. There's very few details. I'm very little about stone clearing and the information. And all I'm going for is a slightly risky one.

It's a pile of poo, and there's also two or three little ones around that poo, and I've nipped in, and got them all, and haven't touched the poo. And that again, if that was part of the game, that would be another 10 points, but it is not. I do not have those 10 points if you're keeping score, my score. Just moving along here, I haven't got many cans along

with this little stretch. It is quite a barren stretch, and these stones are, I mean, together they make a stone the size of, like, a small apple, you know, like the ones you get in the wild. So it's going to be quite difficult, I think, to get the wall along this bit, just because there isn't much, certainly,

in the immediate vicinity. But that's going to be an issue for further down the line. Excuse me. Oh, just as I was sitting there, I saw another quite nice one just on the shoreline. Oh, it's a few just on the shore here. I'll just throw those willy-nilly. If they're not going on any can,

they're going to be the beginnings of future bits of wall. But yeah, if you look along here, I mean, I think you'd have to be very sharp-eyed to walk this stretch of the field and even see anything that I've achieved. There are stones hither and thither, and there's a couple of slightly larger nests of stone. But basically, until you reach this corner,

you might not know anything what's going on, but when you reach this corner, if you're being observant, at least I think you would have someone throwing it. Foster's can right in here, my can. I mean, that's sort of rude. I mean, eventually, that will go under a pile of stones. And it will stay there.

But A, recycle kids, and B, come on. I imagine that Foster's can might be... I think I've heard a lot of kids who, you know, have worked out where this has come up and have parties here, probably, we on the stones, which they mustn't do. Yeah, and that's... I mean, it's a nice-looking wall growing up here

that has been remarked upon. I think I've managed again in the last five cars to deflect suspicion away from myself. I can see a dog over there. It might be a log. It's just sitting in the field. It's another one just looking at me from a long distance, with no person around.

I mean, could it be a log? Could it be a log? It's literally in the middle of the field, but it's not moving. It looks like an Alsacean. I mean, maybe that's... I think Wolfie was playing with some twigs, but would I see that from a distance?

It literally hasn't moved. But it's looking at me, and it's very much a dog shape. I can see it's ears. It's a long way away, but it literally hasn't moved from an internal time. We've been here no human has come to...

Why am I being watched by these log dogs? If anyone understands about that, please get in touch and explain what that could be. Are these just log dogs of the mind? Are they real ones? And just taking a little diversion out into the... into the center field here. Oh, there is a dog down there.

So it's definitely a dog. Oh, no, maybe it's not. Yes, it is. Oh, there is a person. I'm going to put him out now. And head across the path before I'm on suspects. What's going on? This may be just a little walk of quiet contemplation.

We go down here. I don't think this is the guy with the three Labradors that I saw for a distance. He's gone. He's scooting around as well. I mean, this is Sunday, mate. You really take your time. Keep away from the family.

This is what this is about. Get away from everyone. Enjoy your life on your own. Have a feeling this guy might vacate the field. I've saved one of the little stones from that last collection just to go on this. Oh, bounced off the pile. I didn't even go on it.

That's a shame. But I'm not going to change it. We may have an accountant coming this way. So you may have to have a quick brief chat. He's got three Labs. They're quite nice looking dogs. But obviously, let's just have a moment of quiet contemplation about stones.

We approach this guy. He's putting one of those dogs on the lead. One of them is three. Whoopee! Whoopee's sitting down as if she's stalking him. But let's see if he goes crazy. I don't think it's the guy from before. So hopefully people like him.

Hi there. How are you doing? Yeah, not too bad. He's a lovely dog, yeah. These guys, look at them. Yeah, they can see it. But it's nice. They're wandering around slowly.

When dogs get dementia, this guy, his friend and his Phoebe's sister. And they're not ours. But he literally looks vacant. He looks like the latter on, but nobody is here. It's so sad. It is, yeah. Because he was such a lovely, he is a lovely dog. He's very different.

Such a shame, isn't he? It is, it is. There we go. That's something to think about on the way home. Thank you. So there you go. As long as the stones are in, you get a little public information. That was actually, I have to be honest, the sponsored link by the Dog Dementia Society.

Please do give generously to them. But that's something to think about. It's not just me being philosophical. I go around here. That guy is walking his neighbor's dog and thinking about his own mental decline. And you don't have to collect stones to really get a little bit of that spirit of the field. But obviously it's only when you're getting your hands dirty that you can really appreciate what it is to be human and how meaningless it ultimately is. I'm just going to try and find a couple of stones just to go on the final can as I have the entrance and exit can.

Which again, always get two or three little stones on it at least every single day. And you would not know that this had been going for months looking at it. I mean, it's a pile. You would notice it, but it's nothing like the other one in the corner. Which admittedly I did used to kind of transport 20 stones at a time to and have spent a lot of time with stones on it. I think other people have joined in. But it gives you an idea of how slow the progression is. That's one corner of the field.

We've walked around maybe half the field on this podcast. There's a long way to go. Anyway, that is this week's podcast. So it was a bit snotty. So it was a bit windy. Sorry if it didn't record and you're not hearing any of this. That would be tragic. We saw a rainbow.

We had hope that the stone gods are supporting us in our endeavors. We've been back to nature. It's a lovely Sunday. Now I'm going to go and pretend I love my family more than I love those stones. But I'll be back today, later today to clear more. I'll be back tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. Thanks for listening and do enjoy your Stone Coon.

Please do get in touch if you have any questions. If you are a glove manufacturer who wants to sponsor the podcast. Do get in touch or anyone wants to sponsor it. You know, make me an offer. And yeah, we'll have a great week. I'll be back next time with more Stone Coon. Do let me know if there's anything you particularly want covered. And see you next time.

Bye. It's all right. Cheers and thank you. You have been listening to Stone Clearing with Richard Herring. Also featuring Wolfie the dog and Fred the dog with dementia and the other two dogs. And the bloke who's walking. Fred the dog who isn't... Fred the dog isn't his dog.

He's just a friend of the two person who's dogs. His friend the dog. The music is by Mike Cosgrave and the mystery voice. Only two or three of you guessed who do you think it is. See you next time.