In hospital

I almost forgot the sadness of phoning up all sorts of people connected to the land and to rural livelihoods here in the interior of Portugal and receiving the answer: "they are in hospital and don't work anymore". Sometimes they are even dead already. Once I even tried to phone someone who was 8 years dead, but still regsitered as a farmer... From my long list of potential interviewees only a few are still alive and well, because most people with land-based livelihoods are elderly.