JOHN has held a shotgun certificate since his teens. As a boy, his mother would encourage him to shoot rabbits with his air rifle for the pot.

Myxomatosis put a stop to that, but he continued to protect the vegetable patch from aerial predators such as pigeons, which at least were edible.

At first his experiences of driven game were limited to beating, but, once he had his own farm and was not working as a farm hand, he put down birds and, with his brother Geoff, ran his own shoot.

Alongside game shooting John also had a keen interest in clay pigeon competitions. I can remember he was off most weekends chasing prizes at game fairs and country shows. It kept him in cartridges and me busy polishing trophies. Most now in dusty boxes in the attic.

We are heading to Scotland where, with friends, he has three days stalking hinds. I shall be in charge of the catering and Christmas shopping. But this year will be different. He has surrendered his firearms certificate and sold his rifle.

In order to comply with the estate requirements he needed to have a silencer fitted to his rifle, he decided that the best thing was to sell his rifle and use an estate rifle.

But recently he needed to renew his shotgun certificate. The application came through the post, and after completing the form, he returned it to the police authority issuing the certificate. He has done this many times before over the years.

A new twist has developed, however. Sitting in among the mail was a letter from our local GP surgery, requesting £36 to grant them the authority to allow the police access to John's medical records, which will reveal very little as he has not been to see a doctor as a patient for many years, and every doctor there has changed since he last went.

He is hopping mad. "How can they assess my medical fitness if no one knows me there and I have not been ill for years." It's true. How can they? The last time he went was several years ago with the same request; to renew his shotgun certificate again. Then there was no charge.

It seems as though the authorities are conspiring against mature farmers, or mature anyone.

Last year he had his grandfather rights removed for spraying agricultural chemicals without taking a proficiency test and paying out for the pleasure of completing it. Annually. He cannot even put slug pellets on or buy rat poison without taking another proficiency test.

In the midst of this rant to poor innocent me, our daughter rang, who is a GP. John picked up the phone and answered brusquely. "What's the matter?" she asked. "He doesn't sound very happy."

I explained all. Tell him he is lucky it's only £36, she said. My practice charges more. I did listen to all the complex explanations of administrative time taken away from actually seeing patients but did not think this was the time to pass this information on.

Hope he calms down before he is up on that hill taking a shot.