The Grim Reaper

I have bought a scythe! It is about my height with a very long curved blade.  I am rather nervous.

I was wondering how to mow the meadow. We only have a little Flymo which needs plugging in, so that won't even reach the meadow.  I could have borrowed a neighbour's sit-on mower, but that seemed rather brutal.  What about the dormice, for instance?

So a scythe seemed the best choice.  For the meadow, at least.

I am going to try it out on half of the meadow (the left hand half, not the "new" bit) in early July because most of the grasses and flowers there will have seeded by then.  If that works, I'll do the new bit in the autumn.  As the cats will almost certainly follow me, I'll have to shut them indoors.  Otherwise we could end up with some interestingly limbless animals.

I've been looking at videos on the internet on how to scythe. They invariably involve sepia-coloured men who look as though they're from another age mumbling about the correct length of scythe and sharpening stones in broad country accents.  I feel a fraud already.

Will let you know how I get on.  Wish me luck!