After a year of negotiations we are almost there, almost there with the first spade in the ground. The transformation of a barn way out in a field nestled sweetly in the South Downs, windswept and in waiting, our home. The plans are all drawn up and agreed, the planning permission is granted and the loans are all but signed. A rental for ten years, a long time in the diary. A year ago today we walked with the kids up the coach road to see the barn, it was surrounded by manure and fallen sky. Today the shit has gone but the sky still needs to be lifted. We have our dreams bolted to the emptiness of this cold barn as it sits month by month in the beauty of the Firle Estate. I can feel the long journey ahead as builders and workmen empty the barn of rubbish and build a home within. It should look amazing. Out there in the field we will be simply in the next chapter, a few paragraphs on from now. Its hard to say i can’t wait but i have to, as i know too well how long these things can take. I see next May and i hope we will be there and i will be here at my desk saying here we are, and there i was back then. The now then will be the now then. What to call the barn, as its now called New Barn and to me thats a bit simple, as its not new at all its old. Im taking it easy, the ink is not dry, the first spade is not in the ground, the sky has still fallen.