Andrea had been riding her horse and had then driven over to deliver some freshly-picked gooseberries to her neighbours. On the way back, she called by one of the ponds along the drive to the farm, to see how the weeding was getting on.

In her usual helpful way she offered to lend a hand, and the offer was gratefully accepted. It only took a few minutes of trying to get the heavy mud-filled buckets out of the pond before she realised that "no, you don't need your waders on" had probably not been the best piece of advice. However, she was on with the job now and her jodhpurs and boots were already splattered, so it was too late to worry about waders. She slipped and slopped in the knee deep mud, filling her expensive leather riding boots to the brims in the process, until all of the buckets had been retrieved and emptied. She was completely covered in sloppy mud from her toes to her crotch. The weather had been so dry for so long that almost all the water had evaporated from the pond, leaving the mud 2 to 3 feet deep and varying in consistency from very sloppy to quite firm. Being covered in mud ready, Andrea took the opportunity to explore the bottom to the pond. In doing so she got stuck in several places, she fell over in several places and she submerged herself to the chin in several places as well. She was now utterly plastered in mud from head to toe, and she was enjoying every minute of it!

But, being stuck in thick mud is an extremely tiring occupation, and it wasn't too long before she hauled herself out of the pond, gathered the empty buckets and carried them over to the Polaris 6x6 that she had been driving. Jumping into the driver's seat she had soon covered the interior with mud.

Back at the farm she switched off the Polaris and headed straight for the dam. The water level was really low here too, with algae starting to form on the surface and the water looked very muddy. It was not as muddy as she was though and hence, with a huge splash, she jumped boots-first into the water. Her riding whites turned from a deep brown colour to a streaky beige, and sloppy mud and water poured from her riding boots. Sitting on a large rock she unzipped her boots and rinsed them out as best she could. Reflecting on the advice she'd been given about wearing waders, she was beginning to think that actually it wasn't too bad at all; indeed, it could even be described as excellent.