The donkey ,old Hasal had refused after five runs so impatiently he himself went between the shafts with a crazy air of I'll show that spoilt animal While pulling the donkey cart up the lumpy bohereen from the shore overly laden with seaweed to feed a hungry sandy soil that was under a mental compulsion to nurture an infant  crop of greenhouse forced early  bush outdoor tomatoes.(it had not been done before in this part of the country ) to his knowledge ,and the challenge was biting raw blisters from the chain into the muscle between his neck and shoulder. the pain was soothing in its distraction from his obsessive preoccupation over the overtures his restless wife was enjoying with the lusty Scottish fisherman who was scoping oysters by night from the holding beds near the quay opposite the house .That fellow, he always seemed to be comfortably ensconced in the living room when he returned tired and weary from dredging oysters from a bay some twenty miles away. That Scotsman a native from the outer Hebrides of Plymouth Brethren stock some how or other seemed to him to run with the hare and hunt with the hound and wore top quality recently issued British forces boots and socks and thermal underwear asking a lot of questions about decant lads who were. Known to have left wing nationalist sympathies! And well in he was with some of the guards and could remain in the station for some hours at odd times ,he disliked hippies and dope smokers and anyone who handled haloucenigics might well be violently assaulted as it was known that a quiet woman who distrusted him spiked him with a tab of rainbow acid that left him permanently paranoid in a restless resentment so easily triggered by the rolling stones or the Grateful Dead, so aware people smiled and kept their distance most of the time .

Disgruntled times they were back then, feeling let down and betrayed by a scheming wife who now wanted to abandon the agreed commitment of setting up a small holding that was organic and as near as possible to self sufficient the dream of little house on the prairie and happy family thereafter was receiving an alarm call. Pain was a prerequisite daily distraction, fierce intense long hours of physical labour was  a necessary distraction from the dawning reality of failure in the family home and so denial prevailed and suffering ensued.

Collapsed dreams commitments and agreements were replaced by absconds ion to Scandinavia with the young ones in cahoots with an ex-husband and an expansive social welfare system ,tailor made escape clause in very fine print sublimely inserted in a tired marriage contract.