We often go for a trip around the countryside back roads, just to keep an eye on things and see if there is anything spectacular going on.

If you remember not so long ago, the powers that be used to issue a weekly list of planning applications and publish this list in the Isle of Man Courier public notice section.

I don’t know if the reason (or the excuse) to stop this idea was just another government money saving cut-back, or was it to avoid the problem of too much information being available to the general public.

Now before I get a knock on the door from a member of the planning committee, I know that the old style weekly list has been replaced by a new idea.

With this new scheme, a copy of each individual application is fastened to the outside of the property that is to be affected.

Now under the old method of informing us old skeets about something that could possibly become contentious, all we had to do was to open the Courier at the right page and there it was, a full, complete list of the latest applications.

But under the new system, you have to be on the alert at all times. You have to be quick enough to notice the notice, or as we sometimes call it, ’spot the plot’.

This is the official notification nailed on the gate of an empty field that tells us that this could be the site of a nice new housing estate.

A recent example of ’spot the plot’ came to mind not so long ago when one fine afternoon we dropped down the hill into Ballasalla heading south.

And there it was, a brand new housing estate. Now I would have to say that I have no particular problem with brand new housing estates either in Ballasalla, or anywhere else for that matter.

But it does sometimes make you scratch the bald spot when you suddenly come across a fait accomplis in a bright new otherwise untouched field.

It just came as a bit of a shock to see how far advanced the job had reached before I spotted it.

I suppose that if you are a developer who has a sudden urge to do a spot of developing it must be a heck of a lot easier (and less expensive for that matter) to dig up a new field or two, rather than tackle an older and probably much more difficult plot. But let’s be honest. Who am I to make a comment on where people want to build new houses? After all I’m just an old man who rides around on a mobility scooter, getting in everyone’s way.

I suppose it’s because, in my day, I can remember when farmers would keep their animals in the fields and let them eat the grass. Or if they preferred, they could use their fields to grow vegetables.

But these days, the logic of the way that things are done has somehow passed me by.

Given that the population of the Isle of Man is probably about 85,000 souls, I would have thought that it must be economically sensible to produce all of the finest beef, lamb and pork and the freshest vegetables that we need.

Our home-grown fresh milk and our second-to-none dairy produce and ice cream is pushed to one side by cheaper and factory made EU equivalents.

Perhaps if our government could take advantage of the forthcoming UK-EU breakaway negotiations, our fishing and farming industries could feel the benefit of some strong leadership. There is still time to change directions.

A final word. So far, so good on the virus front. Here’s hoping that we’re still on the right road.

Recently, I had to see my GP. face-to-face. No real cause for alarm but she wanted a look, not a phone call.

We met in the car park of the Palatine Group Practice. She was suitably gloved, masked and equipped and I was safely isolated in the front passenger seat of the car, and happily okay.

That’s what I call service. Thank you, NHS.