Short Break Time!
Again, it's always touching for you to ask how my little
break went.
I had a lovely time in Leeds. A really lovely place, although
I am sure it has an underbelly I didn't see it, as I stayed
at 42 The Calls courtesy of an acquaintance - I certainly
couldn't afford to say there, couldn't really afford for them
to park my car and you should have seem the bellhops face
when I hadn't him the keys to my venerable, and rather scented,
Vectra Estate complete with various bits of children's dribblings
spattered about!
Test match was excellent, particularly proud of the stacking
of the plastic beer mugs which seemed to keep a section of
the crowd entertained for several hours. Of course, good to
see another South African century...
I then took some time to go into Derbyshire at stay a rather
more modest, but highly recommended, B&B called Crich
Farm at Wessington. Also in the village is a lovely put that
does top rate nosh... if you're staying in the area it's worth
a visit.
I am rather new to fishing with the fly although I learnt
as a boy at the feet of my grandfather, that's all a long
time ago. So, having spent £30 per day on boats and
god knows what on the largest selection of flies this side
of a carcass in the Serengeti what, precisely, did I catch?
Well, nothing... not a bloody thing. I could see the fish
clearly, and I guess they could see me and were so cramped
with laughter that they couldn't bite even if they had wanted
to. Still, nice scenery and very relaxing time all in even
if I did want to jump in with my pen knife and try and catch
the little blighters in hand-to-hand combat (probably would
have lost, there's some big fish in there!) so I had something
to photograph!
And now, the idiot parts....
1/ When starting an outboard do not position your face where
your hand is going to be when you try and pull the starter
cord... a firm smack in the face is not the way to start the
expedition.
2/ When finished with your knife remember to close it and
put it back in the box. Otherwise, when you cast you might
knock it off the seat, whereupon it falls blade down and cuts
the line as you're casting. The result is a super cast, the
problem being that you've no way of retrieving the 20' of
line and fly...
3/ When approaching the edge of the lake, watch out for weed.
Not only can it grab the prop of the engine it also masks
mud banks which, were you stupid enough to do so, propels
you at a stern rate of knots toward the front of the boat
with your head at a remarkably dumb angle to the seats.
4/ When taking the boat out, remember to untie it - this
avoids looking really stupid as you rev. the engine whilst
gazing vacantly at the churning water and wondering why you're
not going anywhere. Best not to do this twice, of course!
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