Mrs Down's Diary, January 12
"Ah" said the straw expert. "You want to be stacking them east to west. That is the way the wind is normally blowing and it keeps the bales drier and fresher. Leave some space in between for the air to travel through as well."
"It was like someone had walked over my grave" John said. "I suddenly remembered a conversation my father had had when he was farm manager and was telling a farmhand where to stack some straw sheaves." He went on "My father told the man to stack them east to west for the very same reason, and I had forgotten all about it. The man asked how he could tell which way was east and my father told him to look up at the church on the hill. He said churches are always built east to west and that the nave is in the east. I should have remembered."