I REMEMBER writing on several occasions about Candlemas Day which is the second of February. Besides being a Christian festival, it is also the day when in some areas a new tenant takes over his land while for others it is rent day.

You may well recall the weather lore saying that goes: "If Candlemas day be fine and clear, we'll get two winters in one year." What I never knew until now is that February 3, the day after Candlemas, is the Feast of St Blaise, the patron saint of wool combers. Now as Kendal was well known as a famous wool town, I wonder if the feast of St Blaise was kept here in days gone by. Perhaps someone well versed in Kendal's history will be able to tell me.

Last time, I said I would tell you how the French reacted initially to the proposed changing of the Common Agricultural Policy. However, firstly I must comment on criticism of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by the parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Margaret Beckett is faced with a claim from the MPs that the decision was taken without proper research into the effect on farm incomes, production patterns and the environment. Although the members agreed some work had been done, they also questioned whether it had been sufficiently detailed. Lord Whitty agreed they had not worked out how different sectors would be affected. Why am I not surprised? The MPs went on to criticise the lack of content in DEFRA's report, whereas the Irish report ran to some 78 pages of detail.

Now for France. The French government chose to decouple support from the livestock sector to the absolute minimum believing that way would help to maintain incomes while at the same time making sure that ancillary industries are not heavily downsized. In other words, as usual, the French government went into bat for its own people. I wish that was infectious and that for once the British government would catch a dose of it.

The French made a conscious decision to keep 100 per cent of the Suckler Cow Premium coupled to production, while at the same time retaining 40 per cent of the beef slaughter premium. What was it Heath said we were joining a Common Market?

France has also seen to it that the reforms will not take place in their country until one year after they become operative in the rest of the EU. It should also be remembered that France has 4.2 million suckler cows making it by far the EU's largest beef producer. So the French have seen to it that its' beef industry does not disappear. It would seem fair to ask, as the committee of all-party MPs have: "What the blazes has our government done to make sure our beef industry survives?" My words not theirs.

It goes without saying that the countryside is the workplace of farmers who have fashioned it over the years. There is nothing wrong in enhancing the environment, but food producers must always be in the driving seat. If you put environmentalists in the driving seat, the nation will live to regret it. I kid you not.

Dialect word: Souty meaning an ailing sheep.

Thought for the day: Enjoy the little things, there are so many of them.