We were busy surveying a new triplet area in East Devon.
It was an exciting time, starting work in a new area, with friendly farmers and locals, and the prospect of a new intake of staff to help with the work.
Our working day started at 7.30 in the morning, when we usually left the hotel to head off to whichever farm we had to survey that day. We would arrive on farm and set off, walking all the land and marking down badger setts, footprints and runs and latrines on rough copies of the maps we had. We rarely stopped for lunch, preferring to finish half an hour earlier and take the break at the end of the day.
We'd aim to get back to the hotel at about 3.30 in the afternoon, which allowed for half an hours 'TB Paperwork' (writing up the survey) and half an hours 'Personal Management' (completing official diaries, timesheets etc). At 4.30 we officially finished work, which gave us enough time to get showered, changed and maybe have a nap before we met up at 6pm to talk about each others day and have a beer before dinner.
Dinner conversation on the 19th revolved around the news that Foot and Mouth Disease had been found at an abattoir in Essex.
The general consensus of opinion around the dinner table that night was that it was an isolated case, and that as it was in Essex anyway, it would have little or no impact on us.
The next day, we carried on as before, except that we had lunch. We had a proper lunch break because it gave us the chance to listen to the news on the radio in the Landrover.
That day we had a page. It read: "Ensure full bio-security measures are carried out on and off farm" or words to that effect.
"Bio-Security" is a well known phrase these days, but in 2001 it was something poultry and pig farmers did, and few others. We were aware of it because of our work with bTB. We had a Biosecurity SOP, and disinfected on and off farms; partly because we were under constant surveillance by animal rights people who were desperate to find a reason to criticise us.
I rang our supervisor to ask what was going on; "it's just a precaution" he said..........
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