There was a time when I was very much an indoors person. Despite growing up in the countryside, I was never very interested in outdoor activities. PE lessons were spent painting my nails and eating biscuits, and anything that involved too much movement was a no go. One day, that changed when my friend asked me to go with her and work on a farm. I swapped my books and computer for fields and tractors, and headed off for two weeks of hard, manual labour.
It was brilliant. We started off in the barns, working with noisy, heavy machinery. After a couple of days it was clear we were not cut out for this. The farmer took us off on his buggy, and drove us down to the fields, despite being told 'girls don't work in the fields'. Hopefully we proved them wrong. We were dragged along by a tractor as we pulled the long vines of hops into the trailer. They were then shipped off back to the barns and we'd begin the next row. The work was hard; the vines are sharp, so full body clothing must be worn, even in the blazing sunshine. And farmers can't wait for the rain to pass - they just give you charming yellow waterproof suits.
Getting out of my comfort zone was totally worth it. My face was covered in scratches, my nails were completely chipped and I was absolutely exhausted. But it is great to spend some proper time outside, and work hard to get things done. And, hops make beer, so all those pints are now completely justified.
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