Fergal called the office from his field the other day to wish us a happy 20 years, 150th issue and indeed a personal Happy Birthday. It was good to hear his happy voice and his tales. At the moment he is committed to his sustainable living agenda, to the point he was contemplating not going on an all expenses trip of a lifetime as he would have to use air travel. That and he would miss a vital couple of weeks in his garden planting veggies.

These days he only surfs when it is pumping, the rest the spends tending organic crops and trying to encourage others in his locality to do the same. Funnily enough I went off the next day and bought some tomato plants and some herb seeds. It may not be enough to save the world, but maybe if we all did it, it would be a damn fine start. And hey, those supermarket tomatoes are tasteless anyway!