31 December 2020
Tier 4 in operation for most of the country due to the rapid manifestation of the new covid mutation. Although no one seems to be expressing the idea, probably due to the fascist social media restraint of alternate theory – it is unlikely that the vaccine will provide a ‘cavalry’ effect. It has been nearly forty years since HIV (a virus of course) started its own devastation and still there is no vaccine, it mutates you see, like the clever little killer it is. Covid is the same and any vaccine will most likely have a mass placebo effect rather than being effective against the illness.
Apart from that its been a good year for the activities. I finished my first novel, which is doing well on Booksie, I have written other pieces too as well as this journal. The allotments have produced very well indeed and we have benefited from the freshest, nutritious vegetarian diet. Other acitivities have been dropped because of covid, bridge, gym, walking club etc and I don’t miss any of them and won’t be on the uptake if things return to some semblance of how it was. Fishing on the river and canal has been exceptionally good, I now know some good spots and some effective methods to fish them. The only aspect that could improve my enjoyment of it is the abscence of other anglers, to a man they cannot keep their opinions to themselves, they yarn like fuck and – like most people – are not in the slightest interested in how you are doing. I can play Spanish/Classical guitar now and have a small reertoire of pieces I can play to my satisfaction, to complement this I am learning to read music. Golfing has improved too and I hope to play a bit more frequently in the coming year. Don’t think we’ll move for a couple of years at least but, when we do, it should be an interesting new chapter.
30 December 2020
Like countless others I am plauged with exisential angst, you know the ‘what’s it all about Alfie’ state of mind that takes the joy out of capers. Well I also tend to think what the alternative could be, if, for instance, there is little or no point striving to achieve, what should we do, as humans, sit down and wait? No, fuck that, we aren’t cows in a field, the hammer will fall that’s for sure but in the meantime, eh. For those who decide doing nothing in life is a good option let me suggest this. We are all given potential and we are all given specific characters to develop. Overcoming the barriers and blockages that life presents is our hero quest, not doing anything through laziness or fear of failure is your regret, and you will regret it. It also makes the ‘I could have been’ people boring and inclined to create a fiction of their own (lack of) achievements. They also tend to denigrate people who want to achieve creating the blockages that need to be overcome.
29 December 2020
Sweet William of Ochra that was cold! Got there at least an hour before dawn and it was an eirie cycle ride, quite a bit of me questions why the hell I am doing this kind of stuff at my age but, as the adage goes, use it or lose it. Started catching straight away, similar to previous sessions, couple of decent fish and then smaller stamp. What I thought was a clonking roach close to two pounds actually turned out to be about half that, embarrasing really as the bloke who took my peg weighed a couple of my better fish. I knew it was nowhere near when I took it out of the net and I don’t know what got into me when I said it was bigger than it was, beating myself up about it still, got to ease up on myself with shit like this. In general I am much too hard on myself to achieve standards in the (several) things I do, got to be something in my upbringing that makes nothing seem good enough, even when it is I don’t value the achievement, just move on to the next thing. How do you work through that? no I don’t quite know the method either, this helps though.
28 December 2020
Because covid has prevent us meeting, the kids and me have talked over social media regularly, yesterday we had a zoom call which, with hindsight , I am sure none of us would have participated in and, probably, won’t do again. Actually it upset me a little, nothing bad was said just that they all seemed irritable with each other, and I was trying to be the clown like I do, didn’t work. Could have been worse though at least I didn’t waste a day going to Manchester for it, or we could have been on holiday, phew!
Full programme of Premier footy on Amazon today and I’ve got it downloaded in my room now, yeehaa. Don’t want to shut the world out, just people, tired of playing games.
27 December 2020
1800 readers on Booksie for my novel, maybe a few of those have actually read it all who knows? I find little point in telling anyone about anything I do, I am, for instance, extremely pleased with the progress on classical/Spanish guitar but who is interested really? What then? is it enough to strive to get better at something just for your own satisfaction, yes, probably. After all, why seek justification through the confirmation of individuals who know nothing of personal achievement in life, who seek gratification only in safety and procastination.
Well I think the session on the Ribble is off tomorrow, the level has risen overnight from 0.7m to over 4.0m, flash flooding that will take a couple of days to run off, then it should be good.
26 December 2020
Nipping out for the Saturday paper and then Leicester V Man Utd followed this evening by Sheffield Utd V Everton, the Blades have had the worst start in the history of the division and I hope it continues with a thumping by a rejuvinated Toffees. Still not drawing or painting, I am fairly certain the interest will be rekindled but, for the present, guitar is paramount.
25 December 2020
May I take this day as an opportunity to reaffirm my depth of loathing for the notion of a mythical Christ and all the dirty hypocrites that follow it.
24 December 2020
Looking like a full lockdown again after Xmas so it’s off to the tackle shop for a few bits with that in mind. Won’t be long before the allotments are in full flow again, I’m thinking of a heated pad to assist early seed propogation and as with virtually all shopping these days it’s straight to Amazon. I reckon automative delivery services, electric of course, within two years. No footy for a few days so it’s films and box sets on the agenda, at the moment I’ve got three on the go, The Wire (excellent) Britannia (bonkers) and Big Love (watchable and interesting).
23 December 2020
I reckon I could learn to read music pretty well, I’ve started and, of course, it’s straight onto youtube for the lessons, so pleased with muy playing too. My book is getting a fair number of ‘reads’ on Booksie, I don’t know how many are genuine interested readers or just ‘hits’, it doesn’t matter really, I will start another soon, the idea is there but it’s such a commitment.
22 December 2020
There must have been around a dozen predator anglers on the river today, all laden down with loads of expensive tackle and not a fish among the lot of them. In fact after well over a year fishing this stretch of the Ribble I have only seen one pike hooked (it got off) and as for perch I have had some quite nice fish on double red. Why do they keep doing it? probably because they keep watching youtube videos of fish being caught and think they can turn up with mountains of tackle and just do the same, don’t know, maybe. I think it’s time for me to explore different spots on the river further up. It’s getting a bit crowded on the stretch I fish and I have pretty much got to grips with the fishing methods here (as much as you can on such a changing natural water). I fancy targeting the bigger chub up river although I had a nice one today, the first good sized one for a while.
21 December 2020
Tackle shop, bait, few bits, allotment, sort the tackle out and home. Session tomorrow.
20 December 2020
Actually quite amazed at the pieces I am now able to play on guitar, learning classical finger style is obviously essential to this but, also, making sure the mind is correct is so important. Blockages are easily assimilated yet removing them is such an effort. I am hyper sensitive to negative comments when I am trying to produce new skills, especially from people (the overwhelming majority) who can do fuck all and who try to keep you to their level, I grew up in that environment and don’t like it.
19 December 2020
The new virus mutation is rampaging through London and, as a consequence, the whole of the South East has been shut down and the rest of the country has restrictions extended over the Xmas period. West Brom V Villa tonight, usually give that one a miss but Allardyce is back at West Brom and I like the way Villa play so, yeah, why not.
18 December 2020
It’s the lads birthday today 23, so proud of them. Last year I went to Manchester to see them all, it may be a wile before I get the chance to do that again but we have to be hopeful. They are all thriving in a city of youthful opportunites, it might not seem it just now – with the pandemic – but, I think and hope, that the future is very bright for them.
Some great footy again this week, Man Utd pulled off a record sixth away win of the season against a struggling yet spirited Sheffield Utd, I really like Olly GS, he will do well there eventually.
17 December 2020
A fisherman passed me a couple of hours into the session, one of the individuals who fail to access information before proffering their own wisdom and advice. “You’ll catch more on the stick method” he said, ” I know this water and that’s how to fish it”. He continued to expel his knowledge without asking any questions as to how much I had caught, or if he did my answer might have well been replied in Yiddish. He fished further downstream away from the excellent swim I had offered him just next to me. It was a golden session, I did try trotting for a very short while and then returned to the feeder/bomb. I don’t know how much weight of fish I had but most of them were just about landing net size (not so with the waggler/stick) and a few were very decent quality with two of special note, a common bream that I thought was a big chub or barbel, and a roach of over 2lbs, making about half a dozen for the winter season, fantastic fishing.
16 December 2020
Did a bit at the new allotment yesterday and watched Wolves beat Chelsea in a great second half, two more crackers on today, Arsenal V Southampton – Arteta set off well but is now in freefall while Southampton are doing really well, then, Spurs V Liverpool – Jose V Jurgen, COYS. Tomorrow Sheffield V Man Utd, hope Ole survives the latest bout of pressure, who else is here anyway? Crickey this diary is going to be a bit Covid boring when I read it back to myself in the dribbling years eh, except, guess what, never been happier and I don’t know what being bored feels like.
15 December 2020
Still raining but it eases off about 12ish so I think we’ll nip to the allotment just for something to do. The river is up, of course, so it’s a waiting game (couple of days) and then, back on. Wolves V Chelsea today, free on Amazon Prime.
14 December 2020
Fast travel of varying modes made the world seem accessible, two hours here, half a day there, but it never was. No one gets to know a place by passing through it and people travel distances primarily for either economic reasons or to get some sunshine. Well that’s all stopped now and attention has moved from the distant horizon to the immediate locale. Covid 19 has not gone away and neither has it been beaten. It persists with the efficiency of a viral organism and it makes many people very ill and knocks plenty over. The vaccine, which I always doubted, is being hailed as the weapon that will bring victory and a sense of normality back to the world. Our government even promised Xmas as usual. Now, however, infection rates are ascending, the highest ‘tier’ rate has been extended to London and the South East and the virus has mutated. So we need to look nearby for the requirements of a fruitful life, local/locale.
There will be things you can’t get, at the moment, for some reason, that’s a Xmas tree, we’ve tried the usual places but none left, shame that I like a nice tree at this time of year.
13 December 2020
Nope, nothing for it, thrashing down outside, another day in, lovely.
12 December 2020
Saturday, the rain is set for the day, a couple of days actually, so it’s off to the local shop for a few bits and a paper. Two matches today Wolves V Villa then, tonight, Everton V Chelsea. Even without the crowds the Premier division still entertains with nearly every match, the more you watch the more interesting it becomes as you get to follow the tactics and nuances, brilliant!
11 December 2020
Another day in, and I am becoming adept at filling the time to my satisfaction. As I have noted my guitar playing – since I decided to learn finger picking properly – is coming on very well, so much so that I have started to delve into learning to rad music . Now that would be something eh?
10 December 2020
Holy beetroot it’s cold on the Ribble in winter. Today, and it’s only about six degrees, I have four top layers, two bottom thermals, a boiler suit, two pairs of thick socks, a coat, balacalava, mittens and a trapper hat. Got to say though that, since shedding a lot of body fat (through good diet) I don’t have a buffer against the cold I had. No matter, same as usual, I got there an hour before dawn followed by the other early birds. Same as Monday, I left two pegs either side and carefully watched the catch ratio of the trotting method against my feeder tactics. The stamp of fish was much better with mine and, due to their constant bait feeding, they soon succombed to shoals of small dace. When they arrive there is little chance of feeding them off and I was still using the landing net. Didn’t take any worms this time and the really decent fish were absent, maybe a coincidence, not sure. Spurs tonight in the Europa cup, they are already through so it will be interesting to see how the ‘second’ eleven fare.
9 December 2020
Allotment this morning to spread a bit of compost about and sort my tackle out for another session tomorrow. Liverpool against some lowly opposition tonight but they will play to win as always, the kids coming through have an amazing attitude, what a culture of excellence Klopp has implanted at that club, similar to what Jose is doing at Spurs, very interesting to see how some of the ‘big’ name are reacting to it, he will win.
8 December 2020
Normal easy day, pissing down again so not a lot to do other than the various indoor activities. The painting has taken a back seat again, don’t quite know why this is, I don’t mind the work I do and am reasonable okay with the portfolio (if you can call it that) so far, but I still have an anxiety everytime I set up to start. I don’t get that feeling now when I pick the guitar up. What a surprise this is, I’m getting fairly good, so much so that I will invest in a really good Spanish/classical instrument when the money is more fluid. Might even learn to read, now that would be something.
7 December 2020
Just got back from another good session, first there and hour before dawn, but only just, two anglers followed about 10 -15 minutes after me. YouTube has played a big part in making fishermen from varous parts of Lancashire aware of how good this stretch is, my advantages are that (I think) I know how to fish it, I know where to fish, I can pick the right conditions and I can get there relativly early. The bloke from Haydock was there again but didn’t get a peg, another bloke – who I hadn’t seen before – came shortly after me and set up a standard trotting rig, the conditions were perfect for this and I tried various float methods with varying success, it is good, but the stamp of fish is much smaller than the feeder method I employ. From now on there is nothing else for it but to set up two identical rigs but with different hook sizes.
6 December 2020
Walk to the allotment to stretch the old pins after a fair old cycle ride yesterday. Sort a bit of tackle out in preparation for the Ribble tomorrow.
5 December 2020
Cycle ride through Cuerden Valley Park to Chorey is on the cards today, probably about 12ish miles which, there and back , is a decent ride, a few inclines as well so it should be a decent days excercise. It’s important to mix things up even when you do quite a bit already, the body gets used to familiarity. Burnley V Everton when I get back, hope the Toffees thump ’em like City did, crowds are back in reduced numbers this weekend.
4 December 2020
Everything sentient in nature is fearful, you don’t have to spend years in the field studying to know this, it is innate. People’s fears are generated largely in the mind. Instinct has become concept which becomes future projection. As we all know most of these fears are widely unrealistic, but it doesn’t stop them stopping us. Now overcoming these fears, I suggest, is less a ‘gung ho’ physicality than a sharpening of the mind, a rejection of false mental simulations, aggresively countering the blockages caused by such thinking.
3 December 2020
Didn’t get round to fixing my brakes, I’ll do it soon though. Guitar is going well, when the money becomes a bit more relaxed I will look at buying myself a good Spanish guitar, my approach to gear is to develop the skill then buy the kit, and never buy anything expecting it to replace the effort needed to learn. Tell you what you need to learn to draw, a HB pencil, some paper and a rubber.
2 December 2020
Few jobs to sort indoors today, well at home more to the point. My brakes are squeaking like mad on the bike, so I will give it a clean on the rack and have a look at it. Taking my old bike to bits and putting it (nearly) back together was a great thing to do and I now know much better how to sort little problems out like this. I’m not going to order new pads unless I need them, good principle don’t buy it if you can fix it. Liverpool won last night, good match, Man Utd V PSG tonight got to be a good one too.
1 December 2020
Just got back. Bit disappointed with the waggler method, somehow I seem to think that this is the ‘right’ way to fish the Ribble. However the fact remains that , while it can produce a lot of fish, they tend to be of a much smaller stamp. The winter sessions so far have proven that the feeder method I use, with particle feed and maggot/worm cocktail bait, produces regular fish of a much better quality with a good chance of a really good fish. This was highlighted yesterday when I changed the waggler rod to a second fedder rig (double maggot) and instantly netted a roach close to the 2lb mark, this was followed by small chub and okay roach, but still I went back to the waggler, why? I think the bigger fish like a static bait and that the float method I use present the bait too quickly so, from now on, I am going to use two feeder rigs, the lighter one with a modified bomb feeder, but with the option of a slower moving ‘bolo’ float rig acting like a stick float that I can hold up in the quicker flow. Yep, that’ll work. Good catch though, again.
30 November 2020
The ‘high street’ is finished, well as we used to know it that is, Debenhams gone, Arcadia (Top Shop et al), many of the ‘chain’ coffee eateries all gone and I couldn’t care less, more to follow I hope. Well I am going up own right now for some bait, the lockdown is still in place until Wednesday, however, you can use the ‘click and collect’ service, what a farce, but I’m doing it anyway. The new economy will be transport based, shopping will be online and deliveries will be nearly autonomous, then people will find something else to do with their time. Ah well, my time is rightly allocated with stuff, today bait, as said, and then allotment to sort my gear out for tomorrow, then off early for a Ribble session and back in the afternoon for the Champions cup mathches.
29 November 2020
Watching ‘All Or Nothing’ the documentary about elite sprt. This one is about Spurs in the season Jose took over. I have learnt a lot from stuff like this, the pursuit of doing things well and how much the mind plays in the process, usually in a negative way. Here I have understood how anxious and, well unhappy, many individuals are at that level, no different really to the struggles of everyday life, all the ups and downs and pitfalls, except it is magnified times a hundred. Fascinating. And it is interesting to document that the programme finished just as Covid was hitting, now, in the new season, fans are starting to trickle back and Spurs are top of the division and looking good for it. Garlands for Jose and his team, hope they sweep the board (well them and Utd).
28 November 2020
Yep, get the Saturday papers, buy some fruit, have a few cups of tea and watch the footy, two matches Liverpool V Brighton and City V Burnley, see ya later.
27 November 2020
Maybe revolution is too strong a term, perhaps sea change, or fundemental restructure, whatever degree of emphasis is chosen is should be suitable to convey the changes happening to the fabric of our society. I only know England and this is changing by chunks every day. The ‘high street’ – that conglomeration of homogenous facades – is finished, all the ‘big’ names are going, gone or critically damaged, little Phillip Green is bust and the country is spitting on him and his like and I hope they do the same to smarmy Saint Branson. What will come next, well maybe what I’ve been predicting for years, a new transportation system for one, then who knows, but it will be good, for those that work at it, confidently and with applied intelligence. Life is to do things in.
Cracking on at a steady pace (always the best pace I find) with the out of season jobs at the allotments. So far we have reconfigured the beds at the old allotment, made some new beds with the wood at the new one, bought and fixed up our new poly tunnel, dug up the gladioli and dahlias, planted about half of the spring bulbs (so far approx 100) sorted out about half of the soft fruit, and all the other bits of tidying up that need to be done. Yesterday we split the big rhuarb plants at the new allotment and barrowed them round to the old to create a fresh patch, love rhubarb.
26 November 2020
Got there before 7am (dawn is about 7.30) and already there were cars/vans there. Fortunately they were unloading and yakking away which means that they could never get to the best pegs before me (bike wins). There was a bloke already on the sandbank peg and I had a chat with him about where I intended to fish, he was an amicable chap ( and looked like he knew what he was doing) but he said he hoped to keep my intended peg for his mate who would be here in an hour or so. I said that there wouldn’t be any pegs left by then as the car park was full of angleres who would take all the spots before sunrise. He was okay about it and even gave me enough live maggots to fish with, apparantly you can get them by ‘click and collect’. Got to admit that with so many anglers my competeivness kicked in but, because I can fish the river quite well I did well with, possibly, a better stamp of fish than most. He did catch well though, the bloke, and I picked up a couple of tips by watching him, which I will implement in future sessions. Really into fishing now and I would go again tomorrow but there are other things to do, and, I have lots of time.
25 November 2020
Just the same again, the govt has announced lockdown to finish on the 2nd of December and that – as far as xmas is concerned people can go about (almost) as normal – what a farce. Anyway it means that the tackle shop is open so that’s good. More footy tonight followed by a good night’s sleep and up at pre-dawn for a crack on the Ribble.
24 November 2020
Was going to do a bit in the garden today, pots and composting, that sort of thing, but I’m a little lethargic from yesterday so, no, bit of rest and two Champions Cup game later on. Two more today as well. I will get out later to do a bit though. Been up since half five, I love early mornings, just so relaxing after a good sleep. The book Dan got me is a history of Africa since indepence and it is a brilliant read. I am pleased that I have found pleasure in reading again, it is very welcome.
23 November 2020
Not a red letter day but good nevertheless. Just got back, the river level was, if anything, a little low, got a small chub and a nice roach on the first two casts but very little on the trotting rig. Lack of loose feed and, of course, live maggots, has to be the main factor in this. I did catch reasonably regularly on a variety of baits and changed tactics on the match rod fluidly and quickly, no tangles either, all day again, which is good fishing. Slightly chuffed that no one else caught anything as far as I could see, the bloke next to me had one chub, but that was it. Tackle shops open from next Wednesday as lockdown ends.
22 November 2020
Old allotment today, composting and sorting tackle for a session tomorrow. Not doing any yoga or running and, it has to be said, I’m feeling fitter and better for it. Obviously I get lots of cardio/muscular activity with cycling/gardening etc and I do spontaneous bursts of stretching throughout the day. Feel grand, on the whole.
21 November 2020
Learnt a new intermediate piece of Spanish classical guitar and I was chuffed at how quickly I picked it up, it seems that a lot of focused practice actually does pay off, who’d have thought? When the money gets a bit more fluid I intend to purchase a new classical nylon string guitar, not that I don’t like my jumbo, it’s just that the sound and playability should be better. And, fuck it, why not eh. Also finished a painting, the first for a while, hopefully I will soon begin to enjoy this as much as the guitar, or the gardening, or the fishing. Talking of which conditions look favourable for a session tomorrow so I will nip to the old allotment today, do a couple of jobs, and get the gear ready.
20 November 2020
Weather a bit poor at the moment but improving by the day. Conditions look promising for a session on the Ribble on Monday but today, being Saturday, there are three footy matches on, one after the other, on BT Sport, so, I guess, I’ll have to tough it out till then.
19 November 2020
Always stuff to do in the garden or at the allotments. I have just put up another bird box and Carol has sorted the fruit espalier (is that how you spell it?) for next year, wow we got some great soft fruit from the new allotment, still eating it now from the freezer, deicious, but it does need a bit of work though, like most things.
18 November 2020
England beat Iceland 4-0 but it all seems a bit pointless really, without the fans. Premier starts again on Saturday and that has a bit more too it , but still not the same. I keep looking at the height of the Ribble, trying to convince myself that it might be fishable but it is just no good when its over-full, wait for the right day eh, you’ve got the time. I could go to the canal but it isn’t the same and winter fishing on a cut is hit and miss. Played guitar last evening, a few scales and some pieces I have learned and, guess what, all the effort I have put in is paying off, no nervy hesitation or mind blocks, what a gret feeling. It lasts a short while then the ennui (or whatever it is) seeps back in. Ah well, allotment today, I’ve knocked up a replacement bird house for the one (of three) that got blown down in the wind recently, just some odd bits of decking nut, nevertheless, a five star residence for a songbird.
17 November 2020
Well I set off before six and was back home for just after 10. I had half a dozen or so casts with a heavy avon float, but it whizzed throgh like an express. I thought about putting a big feeder on and finding som slack water but it is too much like sea fishing so I called it unplayable. Weather gets worse for the rest of the week then a bit better. Plenty of things to do. The coleus seeds are sprouting and I am upping the composting for the coming season which, (has it come to this?) I am documenting on the Growing Stuff web page.
16 November 2020
Touch and go as to whether the fishing is on, or not, this week. If it is it will be tomorrow, the forecast isn’t good but it is the best for a bit, however, the river is high and the tides are big, all this makes fishing much harder work and I don’t know if it’s worth it. I will probably go, you never know really what to expect till you get there. No proper bait as well, mmm.
15 November 2020
Not writing anything at the moment, apart from this of course, it will happen, I’ll wake up and start again and of we go. I am still reading though, which is surprising, and enjoying it too, very much. The Old Patagonian Express, by Paul Theroux, honest, skilfull writing. If he were an artist I would be able to discern what good art was. He, of course, is an artist and I do know. Well, the lockdown goes on and people are still dying at a fair old rate, society is not as it was and the deep changes are happening incrementally. Transport – the true medium of change – is on the cusp of wholescale alteration. People aren’t travelling as much, where to go? shops closed, gyms closed, sport gone, eating out gone, pubs close, where to go? Work from home. People are begining to realise that legs are a great way to travel, and green spaces great places to go. I am going to one of my green spaces right now, and I am going through a green space to get there, in my own time.
14 November 2020
Managed to do a bit of painting again, can’t say I enjoyed it but I get a bit of satisfaction if it turns out okay. That’s it, you see, we always want to prove ourseves viable in life, progressive, doing something worthwhile, creative, well I certainly do. But the pressure is real, is the result any good, what will people think, what’s the point anyway? All valid questions that distort the real reason why we do anything creative, because it’s what some people need to do. I am, possibly, edging towards a genuine ‘don’t give a fuck’ stance, this could be good in that I can concentrate and take pleasure in the doing. Got to say eating great food has to be the top reason for overall health, especially when you’re getting on a bit.
13 November 2020
Itching to get another session on the Ribble in but the weather has reverted to wet and windy again, and it’s probably a bit low so waiting a few more days would be advantageous, I think. Also lockdown 2 is sill on so the bait situation isn’t great – dead maggots and worms – but it will still catch well when the conditions are favourable. Nevertheless it’s off to the allotments to do more spring planting and preparation. Plenty of good stuff still coming through on the streaming services, maybe a bit of enui now and again but boredom, nah.
12 November 2020
I know a person who likes a particular brand of ski jacket. When I saw them last there were about eight of them, all quite expensive, there were a variety of sunglasses too, and other adornments. When he wasn’t buying them for himself he bought them for his wife. They ski once a year. He has bikes too, very costly road bikes, three or four of them. When he wasn’t buying another one for himself he bought them for his wife. He occasionally cycles, his wife rarely. The culture – propelled by the USA – is worker/consumer, we don’t know why we do it but everyone does, the kettle is the wrong colour, two hundred different types of bottled soap. The disenfranchised are not without heat, or electricity, or the interenet, or lots of food, healthcare, education, clothes, they are without the ‘right’ to purchase more of everything – without limits – just like the ideal life of the super-rich. We do the same with travel, with art, books, sport, leisure, all value driven by work-consumption and none of it with much real value. It takes a lot of thinking and a good bit of doing to kick the rush, especially now that the ‘book of dreams’ is just a click away and delivered by Santa Claus next day. Is this why you work?
We planted more daffodils today, 50 so far, tulips next.
11 November 2020
I think I know why I haven’t been painting/drawing for a while. I find it perversly stressful, it should, of course, be nothing of the sort but it is. It has to be right you see. Practice a guitar scale and there will be mistakes, or the tone could be better, but it is unmistakably a guitar scale up and down the fretboard. With a painting/drawing it has to be of a level of accomplishment to avoid unwelcome self chastisement, and this tightens you up, creates hesitation, anxiety, so you avoid doing it. But I’m not going to avoid doing it, I’m starting again with this in mind, today, well tomorrow actually I’m writing this tomorrow. Today though it’s off to the allotment to do a couple of small jobs and get some compost. I don’t seem to get any fatigue after the fishing sessions anymore, and no headaches, in fact I’m raring to go, well for an hour or two maybe then it’s sat on my arse playing PS4 or watching a film.
10 November 2020
Session on the Ribble, normal stuff, early start, but with the tackle shop being closed for lockdown 2 I will have to see how the dead maggots I prepared will work, should be okay maybe not as effective but I’ll soon find out.
9 November 2020
Nothing much different for today which is, you might say, not a bad thing. New allotment to start the spring bulb planting, flowers galore again next year, more so.
8 November 2020
Man City V Liverpool today, Utd beat Everton yesterdau to take the pressure off Olly for a bit, the jury is still out on his tenure but I hope he pulls through for the long haul, tough bloody job that, football. Cleaning the bikes this morning and more jobs preparing for the next season’s flowers, plants, always enough to do while maintaining the correct balance of relaxation. People are struggling with lockdown and the world is changing quickly, but, you have to look after your own corner don’t ya.
7 November 2020
Plenty of good stuff coming through on the streaming services so it would be rude not to peruse it regularly. Enjoying a travel book from the 70’s by Paul Theroux about his trip to South America, plenty enough in that to make you want to stay in your nice western locale for the duration, haha good though. Not much again today, allotment for a few jobs, then home, good food, hobbies and the box.
6 November 2020
It’s a fair old physical feat cycling the six or seven miles to Salwick with a load of fishing gear on a second hand mountain bike, but I consider it a noteworthy feat for a sixty one year old. Great exercise and doesn’t cost a penny, unfortunately exercise was the only thing to be gained from yesterday’s excursion as the fishing on the canal was a blank. No idea why that was and I didn’t expect it as the conditions looked inviting. I didn’t tough it out as it started to drizzle so, off home and plan another day. the other day was, in fact the next one, which is today, and it was back on the Ribble. Again conditions seemed perfect and, although I got there near to dawn there were still a number of anglers who beat me to it. However they were mostly pikers and I managed to claim the premium trotting swim. Using the method I have worked on over the last year or so I caught from the off and the stamp of fish, without being big, was large enough to require the landing net wfor nearly every one. This certainly builds a decent bag of fish and, at the end of a five hour session – which I called an end to in anticipation of the tide – I had a mixed bag of quality roach, big dace and chublets, oh, and a bonus sea trout (my first ) which nearly pulled the rod in.
5 November 2020
6am, feeling much better today, sinus’ have cleared up which helps. Much better day too so it’s off for a session on the canal, don’t know what it will fish like in winter, the river is always the forst choice but it has put a lot of water down so the cut is a good option. Lockdown 2 starts today so that’s something, starnge times, revolutionary, England will come out of this very well, I think, and the next year or so will see a change in our place of residence, probably.
4 November 2020
Mmm. in one of those moods where nothing seems to be worth the candle, ennui, what’s the point, that sort of thing. And my sinus’ are bad, which doesn’t help, trouble is , it makes me angry as well, all of it together, which is annoying as the other part of me knows that life is pretty much okay. I know it will pass, thankfully, so I mask it, but it still hurts. Anyway footy tonight, two matches Utd away in Istanbu and Chelsea at home to Rennes (who they keep nicking goalkeepers off).
3 November 2020
Happiness, the holy grail of the human condition on earth, is not a state but an ephemerality, just as life is. Work at it, improve the material conditions, strive to satisfy the motivations of your character and, maybe above all, recognise that concepts can be challenged and worked, especially the one we call, happiness.
2 November 2020
Backend of another weather front, hurricanec something or other. It really is quite unpleasant, certainly enough to stay in with or without a lockdown (Thursday). Tomorrow I will probably go for some bait while I can still get it, I’m going to try killing the maggots and putting them in airtight plastic and then in a kilner jar, hopefully I will be able to get a few sessions out of this until the lockdown lifets. If it doesn’t then it will have to be worm, bread and castors on line. Nothing much again today apart from keeping mind and body together.
1 November 2020
Well they did it late on yesterday, no choice really, I think, given the facts, lockdown starts again on Thursday, same as last time except schools and colleges are still open. Got an idea about how to keep fishing with maggots when Wayne’s tackle closes until the forseeable, one thing about life is that you need to keep your brain in gear and adapt to circumstances with an eye, always, on how to get the best outcome for yourself. Overall we are very well set up for lockdown 2, got to keep that virus at bay though which means, inevitably, avoiding contact with other people. Carol made cinnamon buns yesterday (among other glorious bakes and food) having one for brekkie with fresh coffee while I watch MOTD.
31 October 2020
Still chipping away at the early winter jobs in the garden and allotments. The difference, of course, between this year and last is the worldwide pandemic, it is getting worse with worse to come. I have to say that it bothers me little that the infrastructure of life – the manner in which people engage – has changed, I prefer it. Travel restrictions have enabled me to value, even more, the greatness of the environment I am in and I consider myself fortunate to be able to squeeze the fruit.
30 October 2020
The Coronation Street lifestyle, as I refer to the greater part of human interaction, is repulsive. I cannot recall any dealings with people (with the exception of my children) that has not been soured by misunderstanding or petty power games. I have never been more content to involve myself fully in human life through a screen.
29 October 2020
France and Germany entering the second phase national lockdown, we won’t be far behind. It’s only just scratching into winter and the virus is spiralling out of control, an incapacitated health service, economic collapse and death unknown of is our near future, a war-time mentality is called for. On a lighter note Chelsea and Man Utd were both brilliant in their respective Champions Cup matches, Utd in particular seem to have got very good and (maybe) consistent after the thrashing by Spurs in the Premiership. Nothing happening today as the weather is shit again, just had a look at tomorrow and there is gap of a few hours in the afternoon but next week looks much better so I think I’ll hang on.
28 October 2020
Off to the old allotment to dig up the corn and prepare the bed for next season. It did okay the corngiven that I had to plant some new seeds late, after the first ones failed, anyway, the new poly-tunnel at the new allotment should help with that. Maybe watch a film later on, seen some good ones of late, I tend to search through the usual mainstream guff and there are many gems waiting. Finally watched Parasite and, yes, it was good but not equal to the other one the lads put me on to Sun I think it was called, one of the best I can remember seeing and I would watch it again without hesitation.
27 October 2020
Was going to go to the allotments today but the weather is heavy rain and fresh breeze so I’ll bin that idea and do a couple of winter jobs in the garden, planters and tender perennials, that sort of thing. Champions cup again tonight haven’t looked who is playing yet but the English clubs are at it so game on. Watched an interview with Elton John last night. It is very interesting that individuals who you may think fly above the problems of man are just as plagued with the existentials as most people are. Life is strange.
26 October 2020
Maybe we would have been away, it was in the plan to go abroad for a few weeks to somewhere a bit warmer at this time of year – I fancied Potugal – but now Covid is in it’s winter wave that looks a long way off. So you keep doing what you do, tinckering at jobs here and there trying to make your life wholesome and fulfiling. And it is, but relaxation is also fundemental to a sense of living life well, for me that means being able to to enjoy doing things indoors that may not have a sense of worth. For instance, I’m not writing at the moment (apart from this) or painting, and I’m feeling slightly guilty that I should be, why is that? not sure really, but one thing I am good at is self-analysis and my motivation is personal contentment, so if guilt enters the fray then it better be prepared to fuck right off.
25 October 2020
Just about okay weather-wise for a trip to the allotments for a bit of produce and a couple of little jobs. Regularity is key to doing things well as is a mental picture of what you want to achieve and a method for doing it. It’s a physical life, constantly to be worked at, and when it’s pleasant and cofortable this should be a condition of satisfaction because, oh yes, it could be worse.
24 October 2020
One of those wet, windy days that don’t inspire even an ‘everyday’ outdoor person to do just that, and tomorrow looks not much better so the fishing (even on a Sunday) is on the back burner. Nipping to the Spar for the Saturday paper and some fruit then back for the footy. Early next year the new Tesco will open about half a mile away, this will be another big plus for the ‘golden mile’ where we live and will pump a bit more into house prices, a couple more years then the big move, I think.
23 October 2020
Really enjoyed the Champions and Europa cup matches over the last few days, good teams, Man Utd were great Liverpool did the job, Arsenal look well organised (especially with the midfielder from Atletico, Partey, watch him) and Spurs second eleven with Gareth Bale look like winners under Jose. Tomorrow West Ham V City, tell you what that could go either way. Got up, read me book, played PS4 golf, ate a good breakfast, played scrabble, read the Covid news (serious) and am now going to clean the shed and pick viburnam seedlings for next year, so there!
22 October 2020
Eyeing the weather for another session on the river or canal, but the next few days look blustery and wet so maybe not. Things to do over the winter for the next growing season – there always is – but the main job is to maintain a sense of worth to activities. Truth is there is no objective worth to any of it, probably, but, of course, that doesn’t mean you can shuffle around waiting till the footy comes on (well today you can!) no, you still have to crack on with stuff, practice scales on guitar, do a bit of painting if you feel like it but, most importantly, enjoy the priviliges of comfort and leisure as that is what they are there for.
21 October 2020
Another interesting session, you never quite know but I think I might have cracked it – in terms of method. The feeder rod is set up with a special worm/particle mix which works great as a decent fish attractor. I cast this slightly downstream of my trotting run the intention being that it will bag a few nice fish and feed along the flow as well. Bait on this rod is still maggot/worm/caster combo but on a bigger hook (size12) On the last two sessions I have had some really nice fish on this rig, so much so that it has become intensive trying to fish two rods, which is exactly what I like. The trotting rig has taken a lot of trial and error, I have spent (for me) a bit of money on floats but I now use only Drennan heavy loaded wagglers with the minimum of bulk shot near the hook. If conditions are tricky and I am fishing a nearside run I might swithch to a bolo with more bulk to get the bait down. Yesterday was fantastic, although it was breezy I was controlling the float nicely and hitting decent fish nearly every cast, interspersed with fish on the feeder rod. Then the tide started and I underestimated I didn’t move the keepnet or the rod rests and the water quickly covered them. Then I got pestered by the bullocks, normally you can shoo them off but they must have grown a bit more used to people and one of the had a go back which, I have to admit got me a bit twitchy. Anyway they cleared off eventually and I continued feeder fishing from the higher bank while the net and rests gradually emerged from the water. I had a stonking roach, around the two pound mark, and a fish a cast till the end of the session. When I lifted the net I expected a heavy bag of fish but, of course, they had all swum off, oh well at least I got my gear back!
20 October 2020
Off for a session on the Ribble. Champions cup later on with United V PSG.
19 October 2020
The best weather has been over the weekend and we have used it to do a bit of harder work at the allotments. Unfortunately the weather is becoming wetter and breezier so fishing has to be carefully judged, I refuse to get piss wet through or have all my gear blown away, no point when you are time-rich, I will wait and do something else. Like reading, getting back into this little source of joy and have always got one on the go now (not just Shakespeare or Schopenhauer) Daniel has sent me what looks like another gem for my birthday.
18 October 2020
Sixty one today, bloody hell! Got to admit though I am feeling great, fantastic food, plenty of fresh air and exercise and a stress free life. I am – by nature and upbringing – a solitary person, being around strangers, ‘friends’ or casual aquantainces brings out an alter-ego amour that I am all too glad to shake off. The new normal has meant severe limitations to social interaction and I welcome it, very content thank you. Finished the basic assembly of the poly tunnel and now it just needs tinkering with, looks good and it will good for growing produce that needs a little more care.
17 October 2020
Finishing off the poly tunnel this morning then back for Liverpool V Everton, now that should be interesting Liverpool having been beaten 7-2 by Villa last time out and Everton top of the table, hope the toffees win.
16 October 2020
Next growing season the old allotment will be used for bulk crops, the reason being that we intend to spend less time visiting the place. So we are tranplanting some of the beds from old to new in addition to building a poly-tunnel. So far it’s going quite well, we tend to measure twice (or three times) and cut once, always the best method.
15 October 2020
Brilliant day! Just cast the feeder rod in full of my special mix and worm/double caster on the hook when a fellow angle came to ask whether I had caught anything. Just as I was replying that it was my first cast the rod quivered and I was into a good fish, I thought it was a chub but as it came closer the guy said it was a roach, I even had to ask him to tackle my landing net up. Unfortunately the hook came out just as it was about to be netted, the bloke, who turned out to be a good angler (he had a good net next to me trotting) reckoned it to be about a pound and three quarters to two. Obviously I stuck to the same method while trotting a second rod along the first third, the feeder rod was active all day and I netted three roach close to the two pound mark one of which I am certain was over. I watched a You Tube clip of a bloke fishing the same peg and he got excited when he landed a fish of around the same size. Below is his fish and one of mine (as well as a poor picture of a personal best perch) cracking day!
14 October 2020
Session on the Ribble, the weather and the conditions look good so I’m hoping for something akin to the last session or a bit better, the water should be up a bit which is always good.
13 October 2020
Same old. Off to the allotments to pick the produce we need and to work on the changes for the new season, spuds, carrots, parsnips,beetroot, all still in the ground and fresh while many other plots are under plastic.
12 October 2020
England won, great result and a good performance, still a lot of fans aren’t happy, why? no idea, we beat the best team in the world, it’s great. Covid remains, and it’s getting worse, colder, damper weather inevitably creates perfect conditions for transmission. The govt has issued a three tier system with the highest risk going into a virtual full lockdown, Liverpoool is the first to succumb but it won’t be long before the rest of the North West are under the yoke. Guess what, couldn’t care less, get on with it and keep away from other people, pretty sound principle (my kids excepted) if you ask me.
11 October 2020
Nice day, so off to the old allotment to continue with the re-fit. We are removing some of the fixed beds to the new allotment to enable the old one to be more of a ‘put ’em in and leave ’em’ plot. The weather for the rest of the week looks not great so we will do a reasonable amount today. It’s coming winter now so this, and the increasing severity of the pandemic, means that indoor time has to be worked through, no good getting frustrated about what you can’t do, or thinking that time should be spent fruitfully, it is there to be used in whatever way (within the bounds of decency) you see fit. I might start another book, then again I might start a new box-set, The Wire gets a good nod. England V Belgium tonight in the Nations Cup (or something like that) they are number uno in the world so it will be a good test.
10 October 2020
It’s Saturday today, that’s come around quickly, weekend paper, I have started reading books again which is good, just a few pages in the morning. The pandemic means that I communicate with very few people which is a very good thing. Amost all of my unease is through recalling past events with other people and not adding to this benefits my peace of mind. I love talking to the kids, they have such a positive outlook on life, they want to do stuff, they have done stuff, and they will do lots more. I think there is another England match on today, we beat Wales in a mock friendly in an empty stadium the other night, but this match – against Belgium in the qualifiers – will be a different story. Another Lancashire day weather-wise.
9 October 2020
Lancashire winter weather, not really cold, not raining all day, not windy enough to knock you over, but a decent mix of bits on a background of grey/white – not too grey or too white – and enough to keep you mostly indoors. There is plenty to do outdoors but attention must turn to what is in. Painting and drawing, don’t really like doing it but usually like the stuff when i’ve finished a piece. Guitaring, I practice regularly and I can now finger pick, something I have wanted to learn since I was young, and I can play some sections of classical/Spanish guitar music. How good do you have to get? that is a good question, I am more than a competent strummer now so, in itself, that is saying something. I can’t push myself to write fiction just yet, although the ideas are there, I should start again soon because – unlike painting – I enjoy the process.
8 October 2020
Quite a few jobs to do at the allotments. We have decided to utilise the old allotment for main crops that need little work, which would entail us spending the minimum of time there. To this end we are taking up three beds and replacing them with a brassica run, the beds will be relocated to the new allotment. On this one we are putting a poly tunnel which will enable certain crops to be grown earlier/later together with over-wintering tender plants, bulbs and tubers. So that’s what we are going to start today.
7 October 2020
Of course, for reasons that will be set firmly in history, we have travelled neither abroad or around England and Wales since the pandemic. Also other aspects of our weekly lives have stopped with little chance of resuming, gym, yoga classes, bridge, walking club, all gone and I couldn’t give a shit about any of these, but I am begining to itch for a bit of travel. It turns you inward though, not introspective, but inward as to what is around you. I do live in an under appreciated area in terms of outdoor spaces – many places in England are – and the restrictions have begun to make me think that the grass is quite green enough for me her, for the near future.
A house full of plants supplemented by wonderful cut flower selections from our allotments, more to come next year as well.
6 October 2020
A portion of every day is spent working on aspects of growing our own food, flowers or plants. In the next few weeks I will post on the page Growing Stuff how I manage the most important aspect of this process, composting and soil health. The benefits of living such a life are difficult to imagine for people indoctrinated into false ideas of wealth and success. What do you eat? It’s a simple question and one that has more effect on how you look, feel, how long you live, how vital (or not) you are. Do very wealthy people eat the best? doubt it. Do we, probably, yes. Breakfast today is tomato, red onion, chard , spinach, red cabbage, basil, chives and parsley fried in a little olive oil, all fresh from the allotment, purely organic and, how about this, eat as much as you want, you won’t get fat. Last night, beetroot and goat cheese tart with sweetcorn, every day something delicious, an apple picked off a tree, just right, making a supermarket ‘fruit’ taste like wet newspaper. And we don’t have a car, many households have two, three or even four, big ones too, like big tanks, wow, how well are they doing?
5 October 2020
Got my days mixed up somewhere along the line, anyway it’s Monday, I’m up, it’s a nice day, I’ve got things to do (in my own time of course) and life is pleasantly tickety boo – even in the era of plague. But first football, what is going on? is it the abscence of fans, who knows, but I have an onion. No I don’t, I have an opinion not an onion, well I do, have an onion, lot’s of them actually, nicely strung up in the larder. This is my interpretation. Two teams played a system that seemed to be all-conquering, Liverpool and Manchester City. Other teams were beaten before the whistle blew. What’s the point in that, mentally? lose, lose and lose. Then you become gung ho, why not. Sometimes this works and then you think, hang on, there are chinks to this invincibility, then the astute managers start forming sytems that poke into the sore spots of the giants. Then the breach forms. Wolves 0 – West Ham 4, Leicester 0 – West Ham 3, Leicester 5 – Manchester City 2, Leeds 1 – Manchester City 1, Everton – 4 straight wins, emphatic, Aston Villa 7 – Liverpool 2, Manchester United 1 – Totenham 6.
4 October 2020
Couple of good matches on BT today, I will watch the both live as it’s pissing down and I won’t be doing anything outside today apart from going for the paper (it’s Saturday), Chelsea V Palace could go either way, and later Everton V Brighton with a strong home win expected for my fancied team of the year.
3 October 2020
Just got back from a few hours on the Ribble, it was an interesting session in a few ways. Firstly, it was impromptu, I didn’t throw the few maggots I had left from Monday so I had some hook bait, I didn’t much care what the water level was like and the weather was a bit more blustery than I like. So what though it’s only a few hours and I like the cycle ride. The point here is that I had taken the pressure of myself, I didn’t have to catch a netful, or a big one, or do better than last time, I just went with the methods and knowledge I had aquired over the last year. And the reel deserves a mention. My old Abu Garcia finally broke on Monday, the bailarm wouldn’t work , I just about managed to get through that session but thought I would need a new one asap. But hang on, what does a bailarm do? it clicks back automatically if you are feeding out line, for feeder fishing though you cast out once and reel in once. So I took the reel to pieces dismantled the bailarm mechanism and it worked perfectly, better than ever actually because I had to make sure the line was in the guide. For the groundbait I used canal mix with small pellets and hemp iwth worm (allotment) and double maggot on a size 12. First cast a nice bream, second a chub, missed a couple of corkers, had a few small ones even on the big bait, and finished of with a perch of about a pound. I tried trotting but it was a bit windy, I can, however, change over from float to bomb to feeder very quickly now which is handy. Good session.
2 October 2020
From birth I was on the side of my children. This might seem a truism, surely all parents by nature are. I don’t think so. Mine wasn’t. The male left early and didn’t return and the female provided food and a roof until I could fend for myself. I am partisan for my children, on their side, not open to wider narratives, specific and unhesitant. They have a friend. I do not expect the same back from them. The point is that they should forge a life with the idea that someone is on their side, just the thought sometimes is enough, perhaps, and then give that idea to their children. It is not soppish now to say that when my chips have been down there was never anyone there.
1 October 2020
Birds are back in the garden, it seems, all of a sudden. Blackbirds, robins, blue, great and coal tits, goldfinches. Many are migatory, the blackbirds and robins that we may think are old friends are likely to be from colder climates returning to their clement winter homes. It is very nice to see them. Our garden, although smallish, is packed with plants and the wildlife loves it. I proves that you don’t have to wait for governments to ‘save’ the planet you can start with saving your own little bit. And get composting!
30 September 2020
Great cycle ride to Salwick but when I took a first look at the canal my heart sank, completely covered, bank to bank in duckweed, absolutely unfishable, but I was there so might as well see what the basin was like. Two canalboats were moored up which wasn’t great but they had moved some of the weed out of the way. The basin itself was clearish halfway out so, after a bit of faffing about with my old (broken) reel I lobbed a feeder out. I decided to try the waggler as a float method and I was glad I did because it enabled me to get beyond the worst of the gunge. Turned out to be a good day, the feeder rod took three or four bream (and missed a few) and the waggler took roach, skimmers, perch and a daddy ruffe. For the last couple of casts I put a shad jig on and got a nice perch first cast.
29 September 2020
Lovely day, calm, on the cool side of warm, feeling fit as a spaniel so off we go.
28 September 2020
Off to the tackle shop for some bait and a few bits. Havn’t been as enthusaistic abot fishing this last week but quite fancy going tomorrow, I am realising that the process is as important as the result. Instead of thinking that the job of getting to the river/canal with all the tackle is a job and a half, I now look at it as an enjoyable experience, slowly does it, take your time and smile at the thought of all the people going to work ( a truly onerous experience). The river is still very low indeed so tomorrow it’s the canal, let’s hope it’s fishable because of the duckweed.
27 September 2020
Strange times indeed, some might say revolutionary. The economy, for instance, how can that fare like it did less than a year ago? sans tourism, sans leisure, sans hospitality, sans air travel, sans city working, sans spectator sport. On the last one, football is bonkers, not least is it like watching Fifa but with real players but the goals are flying in for fun, great to watch and with a crucial amendment. Every team believes (up to a point) that they can beat the other. I don’t mean the idiotic fist pumping, chest beating adrenaline, but clear tactical faith in playing to full advantage and not giving the opposition a goal start by thinking they are better than you. Hence the results so far. Who will win, my guess is, oh who knows? Everton maybe.
26 September 2020
Probably going to stay now, why? well it’s very much all right here, as I’ve said previously the area is (probably) the best in the city and the city itself is pretty good for the things I like to do. We want a bigger peice of land to garden and somewhere with less houses but then what do you give up. The grass is always greener eh. And the allotments are great and only a relativly short distance away from home (which is very nice in itself) Be thankful for what you’ve got eh, living well without economic cares.
25 September 2020
“For the first time since his creation, man will be faced with his real, his permanant problem – how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares …to live wisely and agreeably and well” John Maynard Keynes (Essays in Persuasion)
24 September 2020
Feel like it might be getting near to starting my second book. I have the idea so that’s important, winter is on its way so writing, guitar, drawing, painting are all good things to do, of course. Fixed my new bike yesterday, not that it was properly broken just that the brakes needed adjusting and a couple of tweeks needed here and there. A good start with fixing stuff I find (not that I’m great at it) is to give the thing a damn good clean, just that can make things tick over better. Anyway I put a new brake cable on for the first time last week and that is working fine, I’m going to try to get the gear cables on the old bike today, if I get that together and working well I will be dead chuffed.
23 September 2020
It’s almost to the day since I started fishing properly on the river, I think I know what I’m doing now in terms of methods and I have caught some decent bags of fish. No more big chub though or barbel, during the winter months I probably won’t waste anymore time fishing with big baits on the feeder but will use maggots on a bigger hook. Thinking of trying waggler on the canal too, I know the pole catches well but it is cumbersome and I have done well with the feeder so it could be good as a second rod on occasion. Pissing down today so day in. The guitar playing, I have to say, is going well, practice, practice and more practice especially in winter when the inside stuff takes precedence.
22 September 2020
Good half round of golf again, only played a handful of times this year, what with the plague and all, so not too bad considering. We will play a good deal more in years to come, it is (for us) still an expensive game and funds are not that liquid at the moment, but finances will hopefully allow us to spend a chunk of winter abroad, so more golf there, and, moving to North Wales brings more choice of courses. All in good time though, and the thing is you’ve got to learn a skill and keep you’re eye in, skiing as well, you never know.
21 September 2020
Our transport revolution has been under way for a few years now and long may it continue. Not cycling anywhere today though because we have 9 holes starting at hal five so we want to conserve a bit of energy. It is a lovely late summers day and spending it pottering about our garden at home, making it even nicer is a fair way of tickling through the day. I can’t sit still outside on a lovely day (unless I’m fishing) so it’s shorts on, shirt off and get the sun while doing something. We will end up moving soon, I think, more to do, bit of a project, that sort of caper.
20 September 2020
New lockdown regulations are looming, what this means in the longer term is that the way people organise daily life will change fundementally. I have claimed for many years that a tranport revolution based on autonomous technology is inevitable, Covid 19 will accelerate this in advanced countries. As with any revolution there will be painful adjustments and we are at the begining of it .
19 September 2020
I’m not sure whether my character is unsuited to technical/mechanical jobs or whether I have aquired mental blockages along life’s path. As with a lot of things it’s probably a bit of both. I have learned many new skills, some of them quite tricksy ones, and when you do get them it can seem that you’ve known them forever or that they are innate as abilities. They generally aren’t. So, my old Felt bike is on the rack stripped down. Here’s a thing, how do you get a bike on a work rack? how does the work rack go together, how does that work? loads of quick release bolts and this, that and the other. If you haven’t worked this out, or been shown how to – and it’s not obvious – then the bike will not get assembled or fixed. There is a lot to learn, but I’m taking my time and one thing is certain, when I get something it stays got.
18 September 2020
It just didn’t feel right. There has been a good deal of talk nationally regarding the level of pollution impacting rivers and other waterways in England. Once again we seem to be the sick man of Europe. The Environment Agency – keen to send its officers out dressed like the paramilitary – has, in fact, proved complicit in allowing farmers and water authorities to pollute our natural infrastructure. And my fishing is being affected, I think. The water was very low and the weather quite warm and sunny, I didn’t get a bite first cast and the swim just felt, well, unlively. Sometimes as a fisherman you can have a feeling that it’s not right and this session wasn’t. Not even a session really, I packed up after an hour and spent the rest of the sunny day in the garden fixing up my old bike, well trying to.
17 September 2020
Feels like one of those summer days when I was a kid, early in the morning, warm and calm. Dawn is at quarter to seven – the last early start I did was half five – so I’m not going any earlier than that. I’m not confident today, the river level is extremely low and the sun is up, ah well it’s nice to be out.
16 September2020
Nothing much different again today, walking to the tackle shop for a bit of bait for tomorrow and then on to the allotment to drop it off. Don’t know about fishing tomorrow, the weather seems nice but the river conditions are not good for fishing, really I should just hang on and do something else, but it’s good exercise (for the mind and body) and I have loads of time to do other stuff as well so why not eh?
15 September 2020
Just another really nice sunny day, having a walk to the allotment later for a change. Covid is not going away, just the opposite, serious adjustments to the infrastructure of society round the corner.
14 September 2020
It’s a sunny day, warm like Spain at seven in the morning with a forecast to be glorious all day. The chairs are in the garden and they will be sat on. Nine holes of golf this evening too, half five tee off with lights out around eightish, looking forward to that too.
13 September 2020
The period since March will be seen as a paradigm shift in the operation of people on this planet. With hastened impact the policy response to the perception of Covid will continue to change outlooks on life. Yet everyone has to build from basics. For us, in the fortunate, temperate West, the basics are taken for granted. More so, a new level of Maslovian basic has been supplanted in concsiousness so that our expectations and frustrations may be tested sharply before they are satiated and surpassed. The infrastructure will change, is changing, exhaust fume cars will go very soon and a new era of green transport will begin. The rich will still be rich but values, life values, will be revolutionised. Owning your time will be the greatest wealth. Health, not merely the body staying alive, but thriving vigour, will be a pinnacle of achievement. Then a calm mind.
12 September 2020
The willow tree and the barerooted cherry tree that I planted earlier in the year in containers did not take, I gave them plenty of time but they didn’t flourish. So out they come – they are only plants and we are in charge – and in go something that will work better, constant change, always pottering to get things better, tweaking, making conditions right, that’s what gardening is, in’t it? Garden centres are good for buying plants, obviously, but many of them focus more on providing food, drinks and trinkets rather than things with roots. Supermarkets, on the other hand, should not be overlooked in terms of value. If you are an experienced gardener you can, for just a few quid, pick up supplementary plants that are decent and will do well, we buy very few these days as I grow from seed or propogate, but if (like yesterday) we want a bit of winter interest then why not buy cyclamens (£1) or euonimous (£2.50). Add them to what we already have then for less than a tenner you have two large planters at the front of the house that would have cost a fortune at Snobbery Garden Centre.
11 September 2020
Still some great stuff being churned out on the streaming chanels, we have all of them now via other peoples accounts as well as sharing our Netfix back. At the moment it’s The New Pope with Malkovich and Law, bonkers, sexy and profound – good music too. Got to say again that the natural homegrown food supplemented by nuts, grains, seeds, tropical fruits, dried fruits, limited dairy and extremely restricted highly processed junk, together with homebaked treats, is making me feel quite tickety boo. In fact I feel fucking great almost all the time, plenty of exercise, fresh air in the proper outdoors, and the rest of the time with me feet nicely up, does the trick properly.
10 September 2020
The new normal. Not writing at the moment, apart from this, or doing very musch else than the daily pattern of good sleep, superb natural, healthy fresh food, cycling, not having conversations other than with the kids or Carol, allotment, garden, fishing, reading books (nice to return to this) PS4 golf, good series and films on the streaming services and football. It’s great.
We are tweaking the allotments for next year, Carol does the formal planning and we both get to work to do it. It is the time for cropping and tidying, and to prepare for winter. Kale is an amazing crop, we only grew it this year because our neighbour on the new allotment gave us a few plants, it is an essential for next year and I am trying out a winter variety. The sunflower seeds need more prchasing care, I thought we bought dwarfing varieties.
9 September 2020
One thing that has bugged me about fishing the Ribble is that the decent quality roach seem to be a bit hit and miss, sometimes they are there from the off (seldom) sometimes they come later in the session and sometimes they don’t show at all. If that happens then I am just left with catching small ace and being frustrated with not hitting bites. As a consequence of this I always have a feeder rod out with pellet, meat or bread on, but this is a waiting game and I don’t care for that so I trot as well, continuosly changing floats to try to hit the bites better. Last year I promised my self I would land 100 fish from the Ribble and yesterday I did. Fishermen always set targets and, in just over a year I have done well. Yesterday also produced another method that worked which I will try as a two-rod main next time, cage feeder with bread crumb coupled with much bigger hooks than I normally use, size 12, and thre or four maggots on the hook. Small fish were much less of a problem and I got some much better stamp of fish, with the added advantage of catching a biggy.
8 September 2020
Don’t beat myself up about my daily routines anymore. Previously the old proddy work ethic (if there is one) would kick in and I would chastise myself for not doing something ‘worthwhile’. Well one ‘worthwhile’ practice I have been working on is to be aware of what conceptual motivators are at work in the mind. They are the source of action and must be taken into account and, if neccesary or possible, controlled, freed or manipulated. What could be better than a lovely day fishing on the river? Well a lots of thing spring up which affect enjoyment – pure enjoyment – of a session, with most having to be put firmly in place.
7 September 2020
Just been to the new fishing spot at the confluence of the Darwen and the Ribble. It’s no good. The Darwen is only a trickling stream that holds fish when the Ribble is in spate, in normal conditions it’s just a waste of time. I was going to spend a whole day there but the weather was putrid again so I went for some bait, got a bit of gear and tried trotting in the pissing rain. Gave up after half an hour, back to the normal haunt tomorrow, the weather is better as well.
6 September 2020
Premier Leaugue starts next Saturday but in th emeantime the Nations Cup – whatever that is – is taking place with England playing Denmark on Tuesday after scrapping a win over Iceland yesterday. It isn’t the same without the fans, which is stating the obvious I know, but it just isn’t. It’s synthetic, removed from history, divorced from it’s culture. The old grounds grew out of communities, are palpably still in them, so it is like eating a cold stew.
5 September 2020
Got to say the popularity of barbering over the last few years is one I take as a good thing indeed. However, it does highlight how women are seriously overcharged for their beauty treatments. I am beautiful and it costs me next to nothing and very little effort indeed. Yesterday was a case in point. Sauntering back from the local shop with the weekend paper I noticed the genius Turkish snipper had a hiatus in his Saturday morning clientelle so, I said to Carol, I’m having a treatment it won’t take long do you fancy waiting. Yes she said. After a relaxing 13 minutes I recieved a great haircut, eyebrow trim, razor finish, ear hair removal and a nasal waxing, all for £11 quid. On a serious note Carol said the combination would be five time that, or much more, depending on the fanciness of the salon. It is the pink Bic shaver marketing scam. And actually my barber’s is quite fancy as well.
4 September 2020
The film watching sessions were very rewarding, what an era we are experiencing with regard to tele-visual art. A Polish film called The Hater, a feel good film called Rory’s Way, and a new adaptation by Charlie Kaufman called I’m Thinking of Ending Things. All watched from the comfort of my lovely front room with a few nice cups of tea (loose leaf of course)
3 September 2020
Semi rest day so I intend to read a bit and watch a film (or two). My pleasure reading – it’s a pleasure to say – has found a way back after many years, I enjoyed the novel about Portugal by Yann Martell (Life of Pi) and have just started the Patagonia travel book by Paul (Lois’ dad) Theroux. As well the book Dan gave me on Post Capitalism is very readable and pertinent. In addition to this I find I am not too bad at Scrabble and play a couple of games a day, I always thought I should be but never seemed to get the drift of it.
I say a semi day of rest because actually I am cycling to an alternative spot on the Ribble that I think might be good, report to follow, and one of the allotments, of course.
2 September 2020
Veering from over the hedge came a squadron of Canada geese heading south, I wished them well on the long journey south and asked them to lighten their load on my old school as they flew past. Like a neon fighter plane a kingfisher flew past my pole so closely I could see its face and its zingy marmalade body. I see one, I think, every time I go fishing at this time of year but never that close, I thought it was going to rest on the pole, like dragonflies sometimes do. Something I haven’t seen in a while, a mink, slinking jauntily across the canal path and bow-waving the water as it crossed, like a mini Loch Nessie. I am going for a session on the Ribble today, just with the bait left over from Monday, I didn’t catch a net full then but, thinking back, what a morning.
1 September 2020
Thinking of sorting out my old Felt hybrid bike, by that I mean stripping it down to the frame and building it up from scratch. This is not something I am naturally good at or, at best, I have aquired a set of mental blockages that mean I doubt myself regarding tasks like these. Firstly I need to take lots of time to work out – stage by stage – how to do it, the internet is an obvious marvel in this respect. I have a bike work station in the shed so the first part is to set that up and get my bike on it. One problem is I don’t have anywhere to leave it in situ, I will have to take it down every time I want to do a bit of work on it, so what, I’ve got the time, and there is no pressure on me if it doesn’t work out, just the reverse as I will learn new skills.
Passeed a damson tree bearing masses of ripe fruit after fishing on Monday. Well, when I say passed it I went straight back and filled my lunch box with the best damsons this side of (can’t think of what) So we are going back today laden with containers with the intention to make some pretty great jam.
30 August 2020
It’s a short life. I suppose part of the reason for the moronical ‘bucket list’ mentality that many people admire is due waking up to the realisation that most of it is wasted, and a quick catch up is needed. Not the way to do it though, really. People like to stay at home, do very little, eat junk, talk about doing all sorts of things, end up watching telly, year after year after year. Well here’s an idea, how about waking up one morning and seeing the dawn rise, it’s quite beautiful on a clear morning, you don’t have to fly a thousand miles to see one either because there is one very close to where you live. Here’s one of mine from yesterday.
29 August 2020
Liverpool V Arsenal in the Charity Shield, the season has only just finished because of Covid but here we go again, it all seems a bit Fifa 2020 without the crowds but watchable nevetheless. Bait before that and a bit more on the allotments, fishing tomorrow and a very early start.
28 August 2020
It can’t be a coincidence that eating my own produce is a vital contributory factor to me feeling physically wonderful, still get ennui – I think that’s how you spell it – but that is very much par for the course of being human, innit. So, with that in mind, I’m off to one of the allotments.
27 August 2020
Slightly miffed because the weather has changed overnight and the conditions are good for a session and I’ve missed it, ah never mind plenty of other stuff to get cracking on. Might pick up a paintbrush again, not done any daubing for a bit and I’m beginning to feel like it again. Of course the allotments need constant attention so that will take a chink out of the day. Covid is still changing the world.
26 August 2020
Putting your mind in the right place is a cliched expression with a good deal of truth in it, but who can, really? Human life is utterly dicated by the organisation of conceptual matrix in the mind and it the challenge of all challenges to work it for good than bad. There we go from the off, what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’ who says? what context? what situations? impossible, do we rely on recieved moralty – from our cultural heritage or education – or do we think for ourselves and challenge those pre-conceptions, and to what then do we turn? This seems complex – and it is – but actually this is entry level conceptual intricacy, it becomes very much more fraught. And no one has the answer, methods yes, advice, plenty of that, and others experience sometimes helps, but nothing works effectivly. Perhaps the expectations are too high, the false holy grail of happiness like a carrot on a stick. No wonder then that everyone seeks a raft, many through religion, as many through drugs, and almost all engage the perpetual battle that is life. To what purpose? nothing tells us the answer to that either, unless we look to nature, there may be a clue there.
Nipping to the new allotment to do a couple of jobs and pick some more produce. I was planning on a session early doors tomorrow but the forecast gives an extended chance of rain, don’t fancy getting soaked so the decision goes against it.
25 August 2020
The new method for multi hooks didn’t work at all, I thought it would when I planned it but the practicalities proved otherwise. Anyway a normal session on a lovely day no big fish, apart from a personal best perch, but pleasant fishing nonetheless.
24 August 2020
Off to the river for a session while the weather holds, the next few days are windy and wet, as it should be in England at the height of summer!
23 August 2020
Champions Cup final tonight PSG V Bayern both strong sides, I am going to watch it but it has become a little sterile and formulaic without crowds, like watching a Fifa game, same with cricket, the life has gone out of it, it entertains but doesn’t enthrall. Some days are better than others, this one isn’t great, an observer might wonder why and they would be rightly perplexed, it is often an effort, life.
22 August 2020
Normal Saturday, off to Booths for some bread, tuna, honey and a free paper, it’s pissing down again so we aren’t going to the allotment today. Not sure about Wales and the potential move, it’s very complicated and with most aspects of life that become complicated the value gets lost or hidden.
21 August 2020
The new golf game has arrived. It sounds daft but not only do I enjoy playing it the game also makes you think about the connection between thought and reaction, if applied properly this can be a useful general skill. I’m pretty good at it too, I should be given the hours I spend on it. Strated stringing the onions, another useful skill if done properly.
20 August 2020
Produce at the allotments has exceed our expectations. Building on experience of the previous two years we are now sufficient in vegetables of a quality and range that cannot be purchased in the best of supermarkets, the freshest of herbs by the bunch, cut flowers that make the hothouse florist bundles look stunted and washed out and abundance of fruit. Yes it is good living, really good.
19 August 2020
Not writing much apart, I thought I might get straight into the next book but it seems a bit of breathing space is in order. Not painting or drawing either or playing much guitar yet, of course, growing stuff and fishing consume a lot of my hours and I’m thankful for that. I will get around to starting the new book it has just got to take its course. I have been thinking about a new method for fishing the Ribble, reckon I’ll try this on the next session.
18 August 2020
The Ribble wasn’t as low as I thought, but the problem of very small, hungry fish smashing the bait is as bad as ever, it is hit and miss whether the bigger roach and dace are get a look in and, to be fair, I am getting a bit fed up with it, especially after the superb session last week on the canal. However, I have an idea for another method that might work, I’m certainly going to give it a good try, one thing is certain I am not buying any more floats.
Just finished a film, Mudbound, it gets raved about, they’re wrong. Welcome to the Ladybird film/book on American Racism (post WW2) Screenplay straight from a sixth-formers bedroom with carboard flat characters delivering dirge. The torture scene rubs our nose in the monstrous horror of reified structural racism while missing (as the whole film does) the putrid subtlety of its everyday evil. There are better films on this subject available.
17 August 2020
Starting to read a post-capitalist book that Dan has given me, not the type of thing I read these days but it seems interesting along the same lines as previous ideas but updated. Maybe the unaddressed assumption with this kind of Marxist polemic is that the hated 1% (who reify their control constantly) are happy with their lot, but hang on, what if they’re not? is a question I would ask, what then? I still believe that will and personal character play an enormous part in the world as it is, as representation. Thinking of an evening session on the Ribble, it is very low, so the conditions are not great, but you never know do you, well you do know if you don’t go, don’t you?
16 August 2020
Allotment again today, it is such a good way of constructing a day, do a bit of healthy outdoor work – nobody chipping in with comments – and then coming home with loads of the freshest, healthiest food, I mean, come on. Man City got placed to one side by Lyon in the Champions knock outs, bad performance and a blundering tactical blip by Pep. Man Utd play tonight, actually I am writing this on Mondaymorning so I know that they also got knocked out of the Europa’s, bit unlucky i thought, they could have won it comfortably but they seemed to get rope-a-doped and ran out of steam with fifteen minutes to go, and then Seville scored.
Not heard from the kids for a couple of days, Manchester is still in lockdown, they are alright.
15 August 2020
Last session on the canal found me next to a bloke fishing feeder rig on the tip. This is normally a method used on rivers or lakes but it seemed to be working for him on the bigger basin where I fish. Mainly it gets the presentation further than it is possible to fish a pole or a waggler so I thought about it and decided to try a session. From the off (with the special grounbait mix) I was into a small bream, bigger ones followed with virtually every cast until the smaller fish got moving around midday (I lost a very nice fish that genuinly smashed my rig). All in all a great session which was made even better by being able to fish a pole length and manage the feeder rod with smoothness honed by practice and thinking about how to do it, really pleased.
14 August 2020
Up very early for a dawn start on the canal. I couldn’t decide on the river or Salwick but the river is very low and that usually means poor fishing so off we go, trying the new bike with the tackle as well, should be fine.
13 August 2020
Scorcher! heading towards the high twenties, too hot to do much else but a bit of gardening and a lot of lazing about. Off to the allotments later to pick fruit, flowers and some vegetables for my evening meal, fresh herbs too, basil, parsley and coriander. Thinking about a new reel, I need one as the bailarm on my Abu is not working properly, like so much though there is a mass of products to choose from at wildly different prices – more to catch the eye than to catch a fish (haha). Off to get some bait though, can’t do without that.
12 August 2020
The funeral is today. We go from Blackpool and then, because of Covid, only Carol, her mum, and me are returning to Blackpool. I will return to Preston later in the day.
11 August 2020
Second full day in Blackpool, just been for a walk to the front at ten in the morning and it feels like Gran Canaria, very warm. Not doing anything today just waiting for the funeral tomorrow, not frustrated because I have come to realise that relaxing means not itching to do very much, it helps being reasonably satisfied with what you have done so far. No biting urgency anymore and it feels good, hope it continues.
10 August 2020
Man Utd git through to the semi finals of the Europa Cup with a scrappy performance against Copenhagen, they have bite though and could have scored five, Wovles or Sevilla next. The season is, of course, unlike any other and all the remaining European matches are being played in a tight schedule which makes great viewing for the sit-at-home football enthusiast.
Also watching the new Iraq doc on iPlayer, just proves what a collosal bunch of lying, murderous vipers human beings are, sure there are good things about humanity, I think, there must be. Fixed up my new bike and it should be okay.
9 August 2020
Got myself a new bike, well not a new one one, second hand off ebay. My old one, which I bought when we were managing Ravenglass in 2012, has give fantastic performance but is now in need of a complete overhaul which would cost a decent sum. So I saw a bike advertised, bought it, and will now use it as a runabout while I slowly try build my old one from the bottom up. I rode the new one back along the Guild Wheel and it rides really well, smaller wheels than the hybrid (it’s a mountain bike) but with eveything in working order it felt great. Today I’m going to fit the back basket reday for the allotment/fishing.
It’s the funeral on Wednesday and I will be staying in Blackpool on Monday and returning home after the service. Covid means that everything will be pared down and there will be no function afterwards.
8 August 2020
It isn’t as good without the fans, nowhere near, it’s watchable but seems a bit unworthwhile. However, it is footy and Wolves got through to join Utd in the quarters, they aren’t drawn against each other but should meet in the semis. Man City V Real Madrid tonight, what a blockbuster that would have been with 70,000 cheering Manchesters second team on.
7 August 2020
The first thing I noticed about the canal was the duck weed, I don’t think I remember seeing it so weedy and when I cycled back along the canal (normally I go on the road to avoid punctures but it I fancied a change) it was just a carpet of bright green the nearer to Preston I got. As for the fishing there were three other anglers when I got there, which is very unusual. The bloke to my left was fishing the tip and caught three or four decent skimmers and the other two caught nothing. While I was there another angler set up next to me with the biggest array of tackle I have ever seen. He stamped about yakking all the while as he set up and put in masses of feed which would have killed his swim dead. In two hours he had a small perch and packed up saying how shit the basin had been all year – it hasn’t mate! I caught steadily from the off but after an hour or so it started to die back, I keep telling myself not to feed when it goes quiet but I don’t seem to listen to myself, however, I did catch a few, nowhere near as much as normal but good for the conditions.
6 August 2020
Man Utd are through to the quarter finals of the Europa league with an abject performance against Lask. Solskyar has a good first team now and the team he fielded in this tie was pretty much a second eleven, I believe they were plying to impress on an individual level rather than focusing on the team, not a bad thing in itself and I’m sure it was noted. Anyway it’s a warm clam day and I’m off to the canal for a session, not even going for bait I will use what is left over fro Monday.
5 August 2020
Taking life in relaxed mode, R&R, as I have begun to realise, is a vital aspect to wellbeing and I intend to become adept at it. Pickling some beetroot.
4 August 2020
The previous session was brilliant, trotting for roach and dace on the Ribble on a new peg and everything fell into place with a good bag of quality fish at the end of it. Of course you think you can repeat this, or better it, on the next session. I am learning that great rivers, and I believe the Ribble is one, does not allow you to dictate terms and yesterday was a disappontment. The weather was breezy, which meant controlling the flot at distance was not easy, there were masses of quick biting small fish that I couldn’t hit, and the river was very low and clear. I still caught though and I am beginning to appreciate that real fishing is more than the end product.
3 August 2020
What would happen if conceptual thought developed in apes such as chimpanzees, well look around you. Aspects of human life continue to perplex. Why, for instance do we hold with such universal assuredness that there is an external source of morality, a good or an evil from outside of what we can know. From this it should be clear that perception – and the concepts predicated from them – is the source of the human world, its joy, pain, boundless possibility and it’s constraint. What do we do? Philosophy, wisdom if you like, is nothing without a purpose and that purpose has to be enabling the organism to become what it could be. There are many competing factors to such a statement. If, for instance, there is no external justification then it seems valid that any course of action holds the same value, this is not so. The organism, of which mind is not distinct, requires, as part of it’s purpose certain requirements. Physical fitness and health, for instance, demand that particular activities take place regularly. Even such a simple, basic factor of human life as this too difficult a requirement for most. The anxiety caused by mis-allignment of concepts relegates straighforward actions like eating well, getting fresh air, developing musculature and posture to something less than primary importance. Instead we over-indulge on the wrong things becoming poisoned, fat, weak, slothful, irritable, depressed. Then we look to an external source for help.
2 August 2020
The only aspect to the allotments that is slightly problematic is the distance. Cycling there and back isn’t really much of a problem, and it keeps you nice and fit, but it does take time, so when you get ther you do half an hour, more maybe, and then it’s off again. Wheras if the patch was integral to the house it would get worked even more, this is a factor in the planned move to Wales, and a proper greenhouse would be useful. But the cropping is great, just a couple of things that haven’t gone as well as expected but overall, terrific. First potatoes of the season today, reds, delicious, also onions, white and red, carrots, chard, spinach, kale, cabbage, beetroot, turnips, brocolli, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, blueberries, rhubarb, sunflowers and gladioli. Hardly anyone does this, why? it’s bonkers not to look to what you eat, fundemental.
1 August 2020
FA Cup final today which should be a good match between Arsenal and Chelsea although the occasion, if it can be called that, will feel odd as the supporters are still not allowed to be there. The football is watchable on telly, quite good really, but it must be surreal for the players and pundits, well that’s the way it is and that’s the way it will be for some time to come. The pandemic has not gone away, far from it, the second wave (I see it still as the first) is gaining strength around the world, in the UK lockdowns are increasing, Manchester and many areas of east Lancs are under the cosh and I am so glad I saw the kids last week. Just found out Adam has got a job, good news that.
31 July 2020
Going to Blackpool to spend the night with Carol and her mum. There are changes to be made in the forthcoming months and they need to be carefully thought through. In the meantime though, as always in life, things have to proceed in the flow. We will be returning home tomorrow and then Carol will go back to Blackpool to prepare for the funeral, we will spend a few hours at the allotment on Sunday.
30 July 2020
These are strange times the weather, for instance, has increased ten degrees in just over an hour so that I have just changed from fleece and jeans to t-shirt and shorts. I cycled to the allotment to do a bit of work but it was sweltering so I did a bit then came home, there is lots of produce ready, perhaps too much especially as Carol is spending time with her mum.
29 July 2020
Carol’s dad, Arnold, passed away today, all very sad.
28 July 2020
Just off to the, yes you’ve guessed it. allotment. I’m going to cut the weeds down between the beds with a pair of garden shears, fuck it, people might think I’m daft or skint or something well, do they want to know what I think of them, possibly not.
I’ve been making my own summer cordials for a while now, the latest one is rhubarb and blackcurrant which is delicious and, if it was marketed to yuppies could sell for a good price but they wouldn’t be able to pick the fruit and make it within a couple of hours would they, oh well nevermind they have always got coloured sugar water to splat their wages on, ha! Another one is lemon balm, mint and lemon thyme, calming drink just add boiling water.
27 July 2020
Not really a lot to reprt these days, life is good, virtually living off the allotment which is great. The goverment (bless ’em) have initiated a big drive to try to reduce obesity, mmm, let me see, nope, won’t work sorry.
26 July 2020
Back from a day in Manchester visiting the kids, first time since lockdown, boy they are doing well, can’t say much more really, so proud of all three of ’em. I went initially to Katie’s and we had a lovely cup of tea and a chat, then the lads came round and we ate, then off to their new house in Didsbury, lovely day.
25 July 2020
Off to the allotments for a bit of cropping (the herbs are doing much better in the ground than in containers) then off to Booths for some basic provisions and a paper. Saturdays have become a reading day – not just snatching a half-hour here and there – very nice indeed.
24 July 2020
The days are panning out evenly, nice and steady, I’ve got to the point where I am comfortable with what I can do without. the pandemic has withdrawn lots of stuff none of which I am itching to get back. Taking life at my own pace is a great luxury and I am all for it. Session on the Ribble today, not an early start though.
23 July 2020
Carol’s dad is very poorly at the moment, seriously so I’m afraid to say, so her mum is staying with us. I don’t know how this will pan out but there is an air of mild gloom about the place which I am trying to counter by being outside as much as possible. The weather continues to be poor for the time of year, not so great for the summer crops at the allotments and difficult to pick the right days for fishing. The wind got up again at the basin on Tuesday making distance pole fishing uncomfortable, tomorrow, however, there is a break that looks okay so I am going for a session on the river. Still honing my methods on this water which makes it interesting, the canal is good but I think I have got a reasonable handle on fishing that kind of venue.
22 July 2020
Just finished baiting up when another angler trudged up to a spot on the basin further below me, all the tackle in the world on one of those carp trolleys. He came to talk to me before setting up. Of course all fishermen I talk to say how brilliant the fishing is here, there and everywhere and he was no exception. Normallly I have enough radar in my armoury to fuck these jokers off but this one got me, he started talking about the Ribble link and how it was amazing for chub and dace, as well as the odd big bream, he also backed this up with some photos. While he was there I got a nice skimmer first cast followed by a roach, the fishing was steady after that, with a good standard of fish. But I couldn’t help wanting to try the spot he mentioned. I even started to tackle down only to set up again, realising that I would need to find the place and then start fishing it in the middle of a sunny day. I convinced myself that I would check the place out on another day when that tosspot who clears the swims arrived with his weeding tackle. I watched him talk to the other bloke for about half an hour then it was my turn, you just don’t want to tell them to fuck off do you. He went over the same old shit I had heard before, big carp, big roach this that and the other, absolute load of bollocks so just to get away from him I packed up and went to find the Ribble link pegs. I didn’t catch anything there for a few reasons, six canal barges went through the locks as I was setting up, then a load of kids decided to swim next to me, it was hot and sunny and mid-day. It was a good spot to fish if you don’t mind the scores of dog-walkers, cyclists and other people who scurry past you but, for me, I’ll stick to catching dace and chub on the Ribble proper.
21 July 2020
It’s just after 7am and I’m off to the canal for a session on the pole. No need for a dead early start this morning and I have to get some bait on the way as well, but I’m planning on fishing into the early evening. Simple tactics that have proved succesful on previos sessions, one swim about 11 mtrs and another one close in, I’m hoping to get a couple of bigger bream into the net today but, if not, a good bag of skimmers and roach will more than suffice. Man Utd lost the other night, played poorly as well.
20 July 2020
Just had my hair cut at the Turkish barber in the village, I’ve always liked the short back and sides look with a wispy top – like George Orwell’s – but usually my hair end up like a busted cabbage. Anyway, although I can’t understand a word the young bloke says he seemed to understand what I wanted, and threw in a nasal wax as well, for £2 extra. Nipped to the new allotment for some compost.
19 July 2020
Man Utd V Chelsea in the other semi-final today so the plan is, allotment, bit of shopping, and home. I’m planning on giving the hedges a final trim with the shears, so pleased that, inadvertantly, I needed to sharpen and use them for the job, another relegation for needless engines. Lockdown has changed so much and, for me at the stage of life I am at, the changes are mostly very welcome. Arsenal beat City, I said a few months back that Arteta needed watching and, boy oh boy, has he got those players organised.
18 July 2020
Not a red letter day on the Ribble, the water had dropped further from an already low level and the flow was slow. Mondays session was very good with a good stamp of roach interspersed with bonus fish, today the swim was amassased with very small roach and dace which took the bait on the drop resulting in missed bites and spoiled bait. I tried all sorts but, because the fish were very small, the bites were hardly registering, it would have been hard enough on canal rigs but with river wagglers very difficult. I tried touch ledgering at the end of the session and I landed some better roach. I think that the fry fish had finally been ‘fed off’ but by then it was time to pack up. Some big perch again though, good peg for them. Not that tired either.
FA cup day today with Arsenal V Man City. Football, even without the fans has been enjoyable since the re-start. Man Utd are playing particularly well under Ollie Gunnar Solskar, I reckon they are title conteders for next season. Going to see the kids next weekend.
17 July 2020
Up and away! early start as usual. It’s like a lot of things the more you train yourself to do something, go through the routines until they are comfortable, what apears to be difficult activities feel much less so.
16 July 2020
The potatoes aren’t ready just yet but many other crops are. I doubt we will buy an onion again for a while, cabbage, beetroot, kale, spring onion, salad crops, fennel, parsnips, turnips, french beans. My favourite brekfast at the moment is an omlette made from our own spinach/chard/chinese cabbage fried in onions and olive oil with a bit of chilli. I’m growing chillies but they may not thrive without a proper greenhouse, they are coming along though. The tomatoes will be cropping an about a month, they are an outdoor variety that I have used previously so they should be good. Off for some bait now for a session tomorrow.
15 July 2020
Snipped the power cable while cutting the hedge yesterday and, of course, flappy dappy all around me. I really didn’t see it as a problem and managed to do what I would have done all along, I went for the hedge shears (at the allotment) and the sharpener (at the other allotment) and trimmed the hedge by hand, no noise, pleasant job.
14 July 2020
Saw the first kingfisher of the season yesterday, a neon dart umistakable jetting about it’s buisiness. Also curlews, herons and sand martins. I’ve learnt that birds stop singing in the high summer months, the explanation is that they have done the main job – which is courting and breeding – so now they don’t need to attract a mate or protect a territory. In addition they moult out of their summer feathers making them vulnurable to predators, singing would attract attention, that, and an abundance of natural food, means they keep away from the garden feeders. They will be back when it gets cold.
Wet and windy on the Ribble yesterday, no one else fishing except a young lad who gave up after an hour. I stuck at it though and after tinkering with the end tackle and fishing the nearside swim I ended with a decent bag, some good sized perch too, great river. The new peacock quill waglers are good, as are the avon stick floats but they are not quite right for the type of fishing I do on the river. There isn’t much doubt that big floats are needed for casting and holding the current, but this means that in choppy conditions, bit detection is not ideal, I’m going to try making my own by putting a canal stem onto a big waggler, mmm, not sure, it seems like it might work, we’ll see.
13 July 2020
Early start as usual for a session on the Ribble, the weather forecast isn’t ideal although pre-dawn seems warm and calm, that will change, off we go then.
12 July 2020
The book writing has stopped for the moment, not writer’s block more writer’s indifference. When the novel was finished it wasn’t surprising that – although the ideas were there – the enthusiasm to develop them wasn’t. Okay, I’ll wait, loads of other stuff to do, I might carry on with the Sonnets though, we’ll see. Anyway it’s a lovely day today so a spell in the garden chair seems a good way to spend it.
11 July 2020
Off to the tackle shop for bait and a few bits, Sunday is the best day in terms of weather but certainly not for privacy, not only will there be lots more anglers about but, of course, lots more people enjoying my countryside. Monday is a bit breezier but still okay and the swim I like will be nicely baited up from the weekend. Going to the old allotment to tidy the strawberry beds up ready for next season, it’s a little strange trying to plan for next year as we might be moving to Wales, of course you can’t not do it but the heart feels like just a little detached from proceedings. Liverpool V Burnley this afternoon, still strange to watch footbal without crowds, when they will be allowed back is anyones guess but it won’t be soon. I’ve always liked fishing, more so now that I can think about it without (nearly) any other thoughts messing about in there, good days, might even get an evening session on the canal in later on in the week.
10 July 2020
The pandemic seems to have lost interest in destroying humanity so the government has decided to open up gyms and nail salons, phew! We are seriously talking about a moving to Wales, I think it will be great, bigger garden and less suburban, sixty one this year, fit and strong so why not give the future lemon a right good squeeze.
9 July 2020
It’s a bit late in the growing season but I am starting an experiment today. I have tried growing seeds straight into soil at the allotments with mixed success, all of the produce, therefore, is grown from seed – in organic compost – at home. At the old allotment I have grown some nice looking purple dwarf beans and I wish I hab planted some more of them, so I am going to do, what’s to lose? So some are going ing th ground, at the new allotment, and some I will plant in pots at home to see which method proves best, it’s all about informed trial and error anyway, innit.
There were occasions last year on the river when I vowed to improve my catch rate for the hand sized roach, dace and chublets that are in profusion on the section I fish on. Almost all of the anglers that fish the river are in two categories, either the tackle laden ‘sea fishermen’ chucking huge baits and weights out to catch barbel, chub or pike, or the ‘chuck it in and hope’ blokes who walk along with lures. There were two of the former category fishing on the tree peg that would be my preference other than that there are fishermen like these that tackle up next to you, making noise. I aspire to be a ‘matchman’ not that I would contemplate ever fishing an actual match, but employing the methods and catch rate that this style of fishing prefers. It requires a fair deal of tinkering but when it works the flow of fish to net is high, there is, of course always the desire to increase the size of the fish caught but I am begining to learn that the bigger fish move in with increased feeding or, if they don’t, then you rely on the bonus fish. As a belt and braces I fish with a feeder rod with bigger baits, not ‘sea fishing’ but a bit more substantial than ‘match’. I caught a lot yesterday with decent perch on worm near the side, also if there are any doubts that the tide gets as far upstream as this look at this for a river species.
8 July 2020
Up at 4 15 am breakfast – fruit, oats – and out of the house by 5. As soon as my feet hit the pedal my mind starts to simplify, nothing to think about except looking, feeling, appreciating. It’s quiet at that time in the morning, no cars, a person walking their dog, perhaps, sometimes they say ‘good morning’ if they don’t then I don’t. It’s a decently physical day for me going fishing. On the Ribble, where I am going now, fishermen have complained to me about the length of the walk from the car park to the pegs, for me that is the easiest bit after I have cycled there with my tackle, unpacked it, lifted my bike over the gates, packed it again, and begin the walk. The busy road is on the opposite side of the river with shops. I am begining to understand we can never be detached from nature, regardless of how are cities are growing, or how cosy we are in our modern homes, it is always there, an arms length away, surrounding.
7 July 2020
The weather held up for the golf yesterday evening and it was a pleasant game. Not that interested in getting any better at the sport, I can hit the ball and get round the course without too much fuss but trying to achieve lower scores and all that malarkey, nah. Bait and allotment today ready for the session tomorrow, I’m going early again primarily to get the peg I want, the weather is improving so it should be another good day. Might take a few snaps today of how I prepare compost, what a lifestyle eh!
6 July 2020
A spot came up for golf this evening, 18 holes from just after six so we took it. The wind is stil bashing about but the forecast promises calmer gusts in the afternoon. I’ve put the next ribble session firther down the week to accomodate better weather, just being able to do that is such a wealth, the time is mine and I fully appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to do this. And I use the gift.
Managed to get a couple of hours done at the allotments yesterday, everything seems to be doing well, of course with growing produce some crops are doing better than others. Yesterday we took beetroot, parsnip, radish, spring onion, winter onion, lemon balm, spinach, chard, yellow raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, goosberries and fennel.
5 July 2020
Absolute washout yesterday from start to finish, rain, rain, rain. I’m begining to come to terms with the realisation that a day in not doing a great deal can be quite a pleasure. Utilitarian that I am I still kind of justify it by recognising the physical benefits of a days rest, as if I were a professional sportsman. Actually though it is (very) important to recover when you have an active daily life, especially when the calender years are not receding. I feel great too, after a day with my feet up. I’m trying to learn about wildflowers – what many people pass by or call weeds, with the greater emphasis on not poisoning the environment they are blossoming everywhere, or maybe I’m noticing them more, either way it’s a good thing and extremely pleasurable.
4 July 2020
Well it looks like the lockdown is virtually over, what a show those lying, duplicitous British politicians have put on, so eager to do and say the ‘right’ thing the whole process snowballed into an awful brown mush of newspeak. What happens next? I couldn’t care less as long as it doesn’t adversly affect me. The kids will be alright, they are all in Manchester now, Adam moved in with Dan this week so they will get on with their stuff. Katie and Dom are saving for a house and may start a family soon, so they are fine.
Don’t feel tired at all after the ride yesterday, I did after the second one but, like a lot of toughish things, the more you do the less hard it seems. So, even though it is pissing down yet again, it’s allotment day today, them Booths for some shopping and a paper, then footy, Man Utd V Bournemouth. Yeah it’s alright.
3 July 2020
Cycling to Blackpool and back again, third time in just over a week, this time the weather is appaling so there is no doubt I will get wet, and the wind is in my face all the way there. Don’t know many other people who would contemplate doing things like this, actually I will settle quite happily for the first part of theat sentence, don’t know many other people…yeah that’ll do.
2 July 2020
What a good session! All the methods that I tried previously have proved valuble in terms of deciding the best way to fish this strech of river. It is important to establish what you want to achieve and what suits your tastes and character, this applies to almost all aspects of life and fishing is not exempt from this universal. I don’t like chucking big weights out, whether feeders or bombs, and hoping for the biggy to bend the tip, I just don’t. However, it is too tempting on the Ribble not to do this so I generally fish with a feeder in and trot down with the stick/waggler method. It’s the latter that I really like and I’m getting better at it. With two rods though you are forever glancing over to the tip, or thinking about changing baits etc, the lure of the big chub or barbel is too great. I did get a couple of quality roach on feeder and bread which was good but, overwhelmingly, the best sport was on the float. Last season I failed to present a good enough bite indication which resulted in a lot of missed fish, yesterday though I netted a lot of bites. I think next session I will fish with one rod and keep the tip rod for light bomb fishing later in the day if needed.
1 July 2020
Bit knacked after the cycling yesterday but, nevertheless, the river beckons. Early start again but everything prepared in advance so it’s get up and go.
30 June 2020
Cycling to Blackpool again today, then to the tackle shop for bait for tomorrows session on the Ribble, the weather is forecast to be good and, in addition to the recent rain, it looks like being a good one.
29 June 2020
Where the hell is this weather coming from, I mean it’s great for growing stuff but it’s coming down by the bucket load propelled by 40-50 mph winds, phew! Going to the allotment later, more for a walk than anything else, although we are going to net some more of the soft fruit, we have inherited some established loganberry trellised plants that are fruiting prolificly and if they aren’t protected they will be eaten. Loads of spinach, chard, chinese cabbage and kale too, I generally pick bunches, wash and cut it then leave it in the fridge for adding to dishes – makes superb omlettes especially with our own onions. Fishing on wednesday if the river isn’t flooded that is, if it is then it’s the canal.
28 June 2020
Wet, cold and very windy, day in playing a bit of guitar, read a bit, watch a lot of football and maybe a film later. Very windy again, it’s becoming regular.
27 June 2020
The new allotment is proving very productive, the produce that would normally be harvested in around a month’s time is being picked now. Beetroot is prolific, salad beds are full, the soft fruit is punnet packed, turnips are nearly ready, kale by the armful, armies of onions and even the various cabbages are two weeks into being picked. On the old allotment potatoes are doing well, fennel – for the first time – is a hit, carrots and parsnips the same, much other stuff to, a lot of effort but a lot of reward.
Just seen the solution to a little conundrum that I thought was solved. Outside of the french doors in the back room little nuts – like tiny round cashews – keep apearing. Obviously you get to wondering where they come from, I couldn’t figure it out until a grey squirrel turned up and started collecting them. That wasn’t it though. Every morning, in the same place, I put a small handfull of raisins fro the blackbirds, they all come one after another and I have started to recognise individuals. This morning I was watching a young female and, before she took a raisin, she coughed up one of these tiny nuts. I’ll find out what they are but, clearly, they can’t digest them and need to clear room for the nice juicy breakfast.
Two matches this afternoon, Villa V Wolves, local derby with Wolves the clear favourites and Villa looking at the drop. Straight after it’s Man Utd V Norwich, United might salvage a half-decent season this year with a couple of cups, this one is the FA and the form book says they should sail through.
26 June 2020
Football resumed a week or so ago, no crowds of course but great overdubbing by the sound engineers, after a bit it sounds as though the matches are taking place in front of capacity grounds. Liverpool won the title last night, well Chelsea won it for them by beating a Man City side without sparkle, regardles of how Liverpool are mighty champions and look set to build a dynasty under the German Klopp. Too hot to sit out much yesterday and it’s still warm today but there is a cloud cover so it’s one or other of the allotments, sweetcorn to put in and, as always, one or two jobs at hand.
25 June 2020
Now this feels like a continental holiday, half past seven and already 22 degrees and rising. Not doing anything out of the house again today, it’s a bit warm for doing much at the allotment and, although there is always something to do, they are both well planted and in decent order. I feel more relaxed about life, less frustrated that I wasn’t doing this or that, almost like the top of the hill has been reached. I’ve even started to read for pleasure again, even when I started to read Wodehouse it was because he is regarded as the foremost comic writer in English (to my knowledge he is) and his prose is sublime (it certainly is) and I had to read everyone of his books from the first. It’s just another little blockage that needs to be looked at in order to free the mind and prepare for the next story.
24 June 2020
It looked perfect and felt right, but for the first hour I couldn’t get anything to bite except for a couple of perch. I think there are a lot of predators in the basin, understandable really, and that this sometimes can put the fish off. Got to be quietly confident though, it’s important when you’re fishing to believe in the method you are using. The fish eventually moved over both swims, nearside and 9 meters and, at times it was great fishing. A longboat passed about half past four and killed the swims, it had become very warm and I had caught a lot so, rather than work the swims again, I tackled down and cycled home, grand day…mmm, I wonder how the river is fishing?
23 June 2020
Up and at ’em again, the weather is getting warmer – tomorrow and the next day are forecast to be Mediterranean – so it’s a day on the canal fo me. Usual stuff, though not a really early start, get to the allotment, pick up the tackle, get some bait on the way there, and a days fishing. The new book is started but I will commence it when it feels right. For now, what I am doing feels right, great frame of mind, for once, and it feels like a liberation. I’m thinking about tropical fish as another interest, when we move.
22 June 2020
The pandemic has initiated changes in patterns of social organisation, worldwide. Still it is strongly recommended that public transport be used for essential travel only. For me that would mean anything I decided was relevent for my purposes, unfortunately we need to go to Blackpool for not the best of reasons and the means of getting there, for us, are curtailed. That is, of course, if you are not experienced day-cyclists – which we are. So off we go, nearly 40 miles round trip and we managed it comfortably, in fact we enjoyed it.
21 June 2020
Planting courgettes and cucumbers today and cropping what we need for tonights meal. The strawberries that we planted in large containers from new runners last year have been very productive, big juicy fruits by the punnet. Redcurrants, blackcurrants, loganberries, blueberries, gooseberries, all coming through.
We have been talking again about moving, I think maybe that it might become practical at some point next year, North Wales probably. It is good here, but then again.
20 June 2020
The new groundbait mix worked very well indeed. I started catching from the off over the two cups of bait and the new super light pole elastic is just right for banking the fish, I think I only lost one or two, which is a big improvement. Lots of small perch taking the bait and, of course, plenty of roach, skimmers and hybrids, still, as yet, no really big bream. I tried various other baits but form now on I’m going to try to net up and wait for the bonus fish, although many of the fish are just about landing net size I did get broken by a bigger fish on the near swim. The rain started about three hours in, the forecast gave about a twenty percent chance but it didn’t forecast the deluge that arrived. On Monday I waited till it passed and had a decent couple of hours after the rain, this time though it didn’t stop. I was about as wet as I could be, still fishing though, I got a nice roach on the mid swim and as I was reaching for my landing net a decent sized pike attacked it and ping! that was that, home time, eight miles cycling, full tackle, drenched, can’t wait till next time.
19 June 2020
4am rise. Everything prepared yesterday so off I go, I really like the early starts.
18 June 2020
Pissing down, no allotment today or much else outside really. The golf club has closed it’s doors to visitors and public transport is still a no no so that cuts activities down even further. I miss golf a little but fishing and gardening more than take up the slack. I’m off again tomorrow, canal this time, the weather looks better earlier in the day so it’s a dawn buster.
17 June 2020
Obviously since the lockdown – which has lifted incrementely over the last couple of weeks – I haven’t been to a yoga class, or swam, or used a machine, in fact, give or take an odd run here and there, I haven’t done anything except cycle everywhere and garden (inc allotment. I feel great! Did I feel any better doing all the other stuff, I’m not sure I did. So then, bollocks to it. I’ve started a new book, the idea is there but it seems too soon after finishing the first one, like I’m forcing it. But again I don’t want to let it drift either, fine line there. Decided to have a session on the canal tomorrow, the weather is fine and the allotments are well in order so I will, I’ve got some ultra fine pole elastic that might prevent bounce off, like anything worth doing fishing benefits from a tweak here and there so I’ll try it. The last session was brilliant so there is always the expectation to do better, you watch I’ll hook a three pounder and it will snap me first cast, we’ll see.
16 June 2020
After three hours without a bite I nearly packed in, especially when the heavens opened to remind me why I packed my waterproofs on such a gorgeous summers morning. It was weedy, the feeder rig was pulling out chunks of the stuff so I put that away, the waggler set up was working great just no fish feeding. Then I started to get a few touches on the inside swim and a few fish followed, stupidly I then overfed the swim, and then I did it again, kiss of death, anyway I caught a few so it was fine.
15 June 2020
So here we go, new river fishing season, it’s a warm day with a good chance of thundery showers, great day for fishing the canal I’m thinking but not, maybe, the ribble. It’s early in the season, of course, and the fish might not have stopped spawning, also the river is very low, there has been a bit of rain over the last week but, for three month, hardly any. So I’m expecting a low, weedy, slow-flowing stretch without much oxygen for the fish to get moving, all in all a good day for fishing but not neccesarily for catching fish. I’m going to take some extra photos today, and a few videos, for posterity.
14 June 2020
Another fine day. Everything seems to be growing well and we are cropping each visit, fennel, beetroot, onions, blackcurrants and some flowers are on the list for today. When we get back it’s out in the garden again till its time to come in. Fishing closed season ends at midnight so I’m off to the river, I’m not going early so I may have to adapt to where I normally fish but so what eh, got to shake it up a little bit.
13 June 2020
The Dalai Lama is another phoney, much less dangerous than the ruination caused by the Christian prophet (or any other that spring to mind) but phoney nonetheless. Fifty people waiting on his beck and call so that he can espouse impracticalities such as ‘world oneness’. I like the premises of Buddism, and Eastern philosophy on the whole has a lot going for it, but when a weasel like that issues edicts about how to think and act, well, you can count me out. Mmm, I think I’ll refer to him from now on as the Dalai Weasel, suits you sir!
Lovely day yesterday, we had a salad for evening meal with produce from the new allotment, no tomatoes or cucumbers just yet but the sweetcorn has finally germinated, so that’s a full house of crops from seed this year, my karma is together yeah…still an angry fucker though.
12 June 2020
Yep off to the allotment again, new one this time, to start planting my herb bed. Previously I’ve tried growing herbs in planters and, to an exent, this has worked fine, but this year I want to grow them as a crop rather than a garnish so that I can try my own tomato/chilli sauce, worth a shot.
Watched a documentary on Einstein and all the very clever maths and physics thinkers leaving out something that. I feel, is pretty important. We are limited/gifted with a set of tools that condition the possibilities of how we resolve information that comes to us externally ie from the objective world. We reflect this information back after the initial processing has taken place which is then, in error, taken by science as empirically objective. It is not. Space and time are the prime factors of how we represent the world, not the other way around, dear me, do they not know this already?
Within this mass of fluctuating representations there are rare properties, instances maybe, or insights possibly, that are the justification for human existence. Life itself is not enough yet. Of course, without it there cannot be predication. Sublimity is the value, the breathless condition of experience where the strands can be understtod with a bit more clarity. Some people try to get there by using drugs but, then again, they struggle to reconcile the two worlds. You cannot live in the sublime world, the paradise, and the other one does not take kindly to neglect.
11 June 2020
They were queing in their cars back out onto the road, three marshalls were in place to ensure an ordely progression to the first cubicle. Children were in the cars getting excited, fat girls were taking photos of the event, tapping their phones with their polished Nosforatu nails. Macdonalds’ drive-thru on the docks was open.
We got our shopping and went home.
10 June 2020
Similar to last year the courgettes and sweetcorn have been slow to germinate, they eventually came through and we had a good crop of the former. This year the courgettes have just pushed through and will grow quickly from now on but no sign of sweetcorn yet, not giving up though. That’s the thing isn’t it, really, not giving up, learning, trying to improve, putting hard effort in to what you deem worthy of doing and getting better at it. Yes of course it’s all futile if looked at from a subjective position, you will be gone soon so why bother? The other persepective seems equally bleak, do it for others, for the kids, for society, for the good of the country, for humanity, is that it then, service? What is immutable, however, is all that life is driven, plants by external stimulus, animals by instinct, humans by thought. We need to do things, but there are many reasons to commit to an action that sometimes, often, we get confused as to why we are doing a thing. Always greener grass too. Honesty is crucial. Real deep down honesty. What feels right, is the action worthy of full commitment, am I in a situation that needs to be changed? All of this and more, but one thing I am sure of is that doing nothing is a poor alternative and many people settle for it.
9 June 2020
I knew it was a good catch when I was pulling the net out, I was going to take a picture but I had already packed my gear onto the bike and couldn’t be bothered to undo it all. The fish were the same as usual, many small roach, a few bigger ones, lots of small perch and many skimmers. How often when I was a kid did I dream of catching skimmers on the Lancaster canal? and now I catch them by the net full. But you do have to have a good method and the method I use is alternating two swims, long and short, it worked from the off and, exept for a short period in the middle of the day I caught thoroughout. I would say around 50 fish, it would have been more with the right elastic… always try to do a bit better eh.
Not as tired as I have been after the long cycle ride with full tackle, which is good. Surprise, surprise it’s off to the allotment then, today it’s squash planting, tried to grow them last year, half-heartedly, but this time I’m giving them more attention, pictures to follow.
8 June 2020
Up and at ’em. Godd game of golf yesterday evening, maybe the last for a while as the club is still adjusting to lockdown easing, not that bothered. Just having a cup of tea before going to the canal for another session. The fishing on the basin has proved better than I thought, no big bream yet but a good stamp of fish for a canal and a lot of them. My new, lighter, pole elastic didn’t arrive so I will stick with what I have for today, it’s a bit heavy so a few of the smaller fish bump off but not to worry I’ll sort that. Next week the river season starts and I’m ready for that. Picked some beetroot yesterady, all the crops on the new allotment – and the fruit – are doing well.
7 June 2020
I had a wonderful day yesterday, remarkable really. No amazing adventure, or a win on the lottery, people didn’t start buying my book in droves or anything out of the ordinary. It was just that, ordinary, ordinary and peaceful, peaceful in my mind. No surface frustration, no ennui, no doubts that what I was doing was what I should be doing, time (very nearly) was mine to use and I used it doing the things I usually do, and I read the paper, drank tea.
6 June 2020
Working on the plot of my next book. I am still of the firm opinion that it is the value is in the process of writing rather than its reception. Given that, of course, I wouldn’t mind if it got some credit, somewhere down the line, solipsism versus ego, you choose.
Taking a trip into town this morning for the first time since the lockdown, I would like some spare reading glasses as the ones I have are scratched or in the habit of wandering off, also some suet blocks for the birds. I’ve been making my own food for them and it gets eaten readily. The birdlife in our garden has increased steadily since the bypass opened and we now have nesting blue tits and blackbirds, visits from godfinches, robins, wrens, starlings, great tits, long-tailed tits, coal tits and sparrows. My bird bath has gone down a treat too, especially in the warm weather.
5 June 2020
The book is now complete and posted on the Booksie website. Picked the first Chinese cabbage yesterday.
4 June 2020
New allotment. More sunflower planting, dahlias, and other flowers all home grown. I prefer going there actually, it’s bigger, less formal and, of course, its newer. The weather is much cooler today and we have had some welcome rain so the plants and fruit will be doing well, so will the weedsof course so its get cracking, again. The country is still in the grip of Covid 19 and it cannot be the same as before, for us though only the inability to see loved ones is the only drawback, I hope that will change soon.
3 June 2020
Fishing varies, the weather obviously, time of year, time of day, method used, baits used, wether the fish are feeding or not, water temperature, your own mood and skill level. You prepare for the day by thinking it through, you’ve chosen the day so the weather should be acceptable (no point going in a gale or getting pissed wet through if you don’t have to) you have usually been to the venue before so you probably know the peg, you feed the swim, test the depth and then have confidence that you are going to catch. If it’s going well then carry on and try to catch bigger or more, if it’s not then try different bait, tackle or depth. Yesterday I got to Salwick at 5am and there was someone already fishing in the main basin, I could have fished further up but decided to try the smaller basin a few hundred yards further. I baited well, tackled well, missed a couple of bites and then landed a nice skimmer, but it didn’t feel right and the bites just didn’t come quickly enough. It was hot too. I assumed that because of the low water levels and the heat the fish were not feeding well. Or it could have been my feeding levels, you always question yorself. So I packed up after about three hours with only two decent skimmers in the net and a few dropped fish. As I passed the main basin there was nobody on other than a bloke further along clearing the swims. It did look good, there was a bit of a breeze and directly in front was a bank of lilies that, if you were still and quiet, made fishing close in nearly as good as fishing a far bank. From the off it was fish after fish, nothing massive but nice canal quality. When the wind got up I rigged down and fished inside over the edge of the lillies which I had been gently feeding. The flow was like a slow moving river but it didn’t stop the fish and by the end of another three or so hours I had thirty plus with nearly as many bounced off… I might need to get some gentler elastic so that next time…mmm.
2 June 2020
Early start as planned, four thirty, the weather is lovely just right for the cycle ride, which, all in all is over an hour each way most of it with a laden bike, off we go then.
1 June 2020
Off for some bait for tomorrow after another splendidly relaxed day at home in the garden, I know people think their own gardens are great, but ours actually is. Fishing tomorrow and I’m going for an early start, probably between four and five in the morning. Pick the first strawberries of the season when I get to the old allotment.
31 May 2020
Still sunny, still hot, still planting. Not missing anything from pre-lockdown, all the other things, gym, bridge, shops, days out, I couldn’t care less about. The travelling will ease up soon and people will be able to get about but, at my time of life, the days are filled up quite nicely.
30 May 2020
Trying to get a refund from the gym. Fortunately we changed from one of the big three (Total Fitness) to the local council run operation. Withe the pandemic it is difficult to see how organisations like this can operate in the immediate future and, more to the point, if people will frequent them in numbers sufficient to enable them to carry on. All in all it’s unlikely. And it’s made me think. For virtually all my life, in a variety of cardio-muscular ways, I’ve been active. I still cycle or walk everywhere, I garden, I’m always at something and I have a very good diet. So, I’m thinking, why not cash in the fitness and retire from the extras, if I feel the need I’ll do a bit of yoga but do I need tp go to three classes a week, not really, and paying for it too.
Clear skies, warm sunny day, plants growing, easy life and why not?
29 May 2020
Not a lot different today, it’s officially the warmest, driest May on record and, boy, have I made use of it. The combination of the bypass and the pandemic lockdown has made the area one of the best in the city, it would be interesting to see what the house is worth and what that would buy us somewher more rural, well we’ll see in a year or so. The economy will be revolutionised soon, my long-standing prediction that petrol fired cars are dead will transpire quicker than I thought, then what, a more efficient way of getting about for one thing.
Not done a lot of painting recently, I find that growing plants is more creative and satisfying than the plastic process of visual reproduction. Writing has become my thing, whether it is read or not is categorically less important than the act of tranference from me to the (digital) page. I am a writer and can see no point when I will not be.
28 May 2020
I’m convinced now that the weather patterns are changing, it’s great! Winter was wet, windy and mild – only two gentle frosts I recall – and now it is like the Med, yipee! I’m tanned, in shorts all day, and out in the fresh air either at the allotments or in the garden, fuck wage-working if you don’t have to, same again tomorrow. Not even June yet.
27 May 2020
Yep its like being on holiday abroad. The weather is glorious, still hasn’t rained properly for two months and if it stays like this it could very well be paradise. Get the sprinkler out on the garden and the allotment, sorted.
Caught well from the off yesterday and then nothing, just like turning the lights off. I thought it might be my feeding levels but then again I’ve fed through before and caught thoroughout. Maybe it’s just how it goes with fishing, but then again I like to think about these things. It used to happen at Vernons, catch well and then, in the early afternoon, nothing. How about its the time they stop feeding? Well I’m going to try going really early next time, this has another advantage too, the people walking dogs and cycling will be much fewer, got to be better. Still caught well though, lots of skimmers although not as many nice roach. Next time is early morning so we’ll see.
Lockdown still on, going to Homebase to see if they have any hosepipes on offer, it should be interesting, que to get in, social distance all the way around and plastic guards on the tills, shopping will never be the same again…yipee!
26 May 2020
Although thoughts are on moving in the next couple of years it is still a very good area to live in. The traffic is now bypassed and with the lockdown it is even less. We walked to the golf club in under ten minutes and what a lovely place. And we played great! the best we have both played, nine holes and I made two genuine pars, a couple of one overs and the rest not bad, about an hou and a half for the round which is good going.
Off fishing now, it’s a bit overcast and breezier than I would like but, well, not to shabby eh?
25 May 2020
Lovely day, just messing about in the garden and then nine holes of golf at Penwortham, course should be in great condition. The club are desparate for money from non-members, many clubs have gone bust in the past couple of years and the covid crisis will make things even worse. It is, I think, an unsustainable business model, economies are undergoing revolutionary changes – cashless society, whou would have believed that a decade ago? – and old fashioned class-based organisations like stuffy golf clubs cannot last. The elite ones will, they usually do, but its the middle teir ones that will struggle.
Not everything goes to plan when you’re growing your own, my broad leaf parsley turns out to be parsnips, more care needed when reading the labels!
24 May 2020
Up a bit earlier than usual, I’m still posting a chapter a day on Booksie, there are about sixty pages to go and then thats it, on to the next thing. Almost all the time I wonder what it’s for, anything I do, trying to do things well, learn new skills, hone old ones. Of course there is no external justification to any of it just like there is no external basis for morality (sorry Kant), I used to think art and sublime experience was the thing (thanks Schopenhauer) but it probably isn’t. The answer might be in the negative, in that the alternative to endevour is worse.
And of course you can’t stop. It’s a fab day, wind gone away, sun looking to shine all day, no need to job work, book done, garden lovely, lots of plants to sort out today, fit and healthy, fishing tomorrow, kids doing amazing, guitar playing coming on nicely and I am a top level golfer on PS4, oh and we are playing golf for real later today as the lockdown has allowed the clubs to open for play. So there.
23 May 2020
Such a simple question, is mind separate from body. The attempt to answer this splits again, then again, then again, and it goes a long way back. It is usually forgotten though that we are using a nut to crack a nut.
Very windy again, third day in a row. New allotment today to plant some annual flowers and a few more salad crops. Gardening is a perma-hobby and I am well into it, so much to learn and so much reward from everything you do learn. It’s hard work though, plenty of spade work, bending down, out in all weathers, that’s why most people do it the easy way, like cooking, watch a TV programme, go to a ‘garden centre’ for a coffee and a baguette. Well the lockdown is still on and public areas are closed down so I don’t know what people will do. Growing your own is the latest cool thing to do, that’s good in a way, we’ll see. We have been looking at moving again, Wales seems the place, it’s an upheaval obviously, especially as life is good here, but the draw is always on the other side of the hill, isn’t it.
22 May 2020
Got home from fishing about 7.40pm and straight into the fourt edition of the Parker lockdown quiz, this time the question master was Daniel, the questions are going to be hard. not quite as good fishing as the last session and I snapped the end of my quivertip/pole under a canal bridge as I was cycling through, that pissed me off a bit and set me off on the wrong foot. Then I dolloped in the groundbait too heavily and too scattered which, I think, overfed the swim. I still caught okay though, the condition of the water was low and clear, not the best for canal fishing but some nice roach a few decent skimmers, three or four perch and a whopping eel. The new pole set up got them all in with a good action but it took a bit of getting used to.
The wind is back up again, very strong, 40-45mph with gusts stronger than that, and it hasn’t rained properly for two months. Weather patterns are changing, can’t be much doubt about that, but it’s got little to do with what humans are doing, I think. Anyway it doesn’t stop things so its off to the new allotment – walking though not cycling – to plant chinese cabbage, spring onions, and larkspur. Probably pick a bit of salad up for a side dish with the veggie lasagne.
21 May 2020
The place I fish on the canal is a lovely spot with the Longridge Fells in the near distance. Canals, like hedgerows, are the bloodvessels of the English countryside and the are full of life. Maybe we will think of roads and motorways in a similar way in future but that, of course, is a long way off. The cycle route I take is good too, it’s a fair old trek, especially with all my tackle but I enjoy doing it, I am fit but I take my time, a bit of a plod really. You don’t want to get there all knackered and sweaty so it is best to enjoy the process of getting there, cycling to the river is the same, the days of rushing are long gone. The photos are taken from a video I did last week, can’t upload it I’m afraid, but I quite like the way the images have turned out, a bit like 70’s polaroids. I’m off again this morning, the conditions look perfect and I’m expecting a good days fishing.
20 May 2020
Fabulous weather forecast today, up to the early twenties, nothing else for it then but shorts on top off and in the lovely sunshine. There is a programme ofn Netflix about psychotic drugs, LSD, mushrooms and the like with celbrities telling of their experiences. A common theme was to experience another ‘reality’ other than this one, whatever this one is. Sting was on and he is a regular user of a natural psychotic product, ‘for inspiration’. Solipsism.
19 May 2020
Watched a National Theatre Live production called The Barber Shop Chronicles and it was very good indeed better, in every way, than the over-pumped version of Frankenstein that we went to see a few years ago and watched again last week. And I watched two episodes of The Last Kingdom from the new series of the history dramatisation on Netflix. I am a big fan, not just of this but of the many other extended programmes these new streaming services are producing. I have mentioned some of them before but recently Mrs Maisel, After Life, Better Call Saul are all extremely good in different ways, there are many more that I could list and, I guess, more that I haven’t seen. Time flies.
18 May 2020
Its raining, first time properly for ages, so I’ve decided to let it do its work and have a real day off. I don’t work at a ‘real’ job and I haven’t done for a few years, the last one was a bit of part-time cleaning at the police headquarters near to where I live. Many people would not have done this as they have ingrained status issues, that doesn’t bother me at this stage of life and I always had a smile on my face when I was cleaning around people who were stressed, unfit and on a lesser hourly rate than me. But when the time came and I could give it up I did so without hesitation.
I am now a man of hobbies and I consider all of my activities to be productive with varying degrees of satisfaction. Gardening never gives up, it is the ultimate win from every angle but even this has to be carefully controlled. A hobbie should never become an obsession. The latter is a condition that enslaves as readily as wage-working. If it is difficult – or even impossible – for it to be let go for even a short period then it has to be seriously questioned. Gardening is time consuming in every way but it has its own time agenda. There is usually a tomorrow.
17 May 2020
Off to the allotment (old) today, no planting just a bit more weeding – an always forever job – and to sort my canal tackle out ready for the new pole. The allotments are looking good at the moment, although it hasn’t rained for nearly two months it doesn’t seem drought dry. We do have mains water at the new allotment and, because most of the crops are there it has been used. It might be that we give the old one up and get another at the new site, later in the year perhaps. Anyway this is a list of the produce/flowers already planted.
Potatoes, cabbage (red and pointed) onions (spring, white, red and standard) fennel, beetroot, parsnips, peas, carrots (two types) kale, chinese cabbage, lettuce (mizuna, red) radish (french, white) softe fruit (blueberries, rasberries (red and yellow) , loganberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants, josterberries, strawberries, apples, pears, plums, basil, coriander, parsley, chard, spinach, leeks, gypsophilia, astors, gladioli, larkspur, dahlia and sweetpea (various types).
I’ve probably forgotten some and there are a few yet to be planted like squash and courgette but it’s good and everything from seed or sets.
16 May 2020
Some car drivers are so agressive. I employ methods that infuriate them when they behave, as they sometimes do, in a bullying manner. When they think there is space to overtake, for instance between a line of parked cars, I edge out just slightly so they have to weigh the risk of overtaking with the potential of squeezing through the gap. I can hear the frustration through the engine. If they rev to go I move just a tiny fraction out again, well within my rights of course as they have to give me a full car width. If its a long street this can go on for a while. If the car is approaching and it has moved into my line by overtaking a parked car I will move into its path. This is not by any means as dangerous as it sounds as I can very quickly move out of the way. As they are driving tanks they can’t move as nimbly as me, and they have a choice, hit the parked car or hit me. Sometimes the criminal car drivers get very angry, they are confident bullies you see, because they are driving tanks. If they get out of the tanks – which they never do – they are like crabs without a shell. That doesn’t stop them being verbally agressive though and, sometimes, I ask myself if it is worth it. Then I remind myself how many are killed or maimed on the roads by these people every minute of the day, If they drive responsibly okay, but they don’t, so why should they get away with such crimes.
Found two very old tool heads while digging in our new allotment, no idea how long they have been in the ground but they are substantially made, not like todays thin alloys. I was going to paint them with a rust converter but really all they needed was a quick wire brush and away we go. The hoe in the picture I fitted with a bit of an old broom handle I had kicking about, the grip is an old bike inner tube.
15 May 2020
Great session on the ‘Lancy’. Overshot the basin where I intended to fish by about half a mile but that proved fortuitous because the main basin had a party of anglers just setting up. There is, however, another smaller basin just after this that I might not have found if I hadn’t overshot, so all well and good. What a great little spot. I set up a ledger rig and straight away was into a small roach, many more to follow. The pole rig, unsurprisingly, was the most succesful and, from now on, I’m only going to use that, however, I need to sort it out a bit. At present it is a right mis-mash of bits and pieces from old poles which is made worse now as I fell off my stool and snapped a section. I do have some more sections in home storage but there will be a time soon when I have to – gulp! – spend some money on another. I know now what tackle to take on the canal and the river so I intend to pare down excessive bits and pieces which will make the fishing simpler and keep the weight down. Bait too requires some simplifying. Red maggot is the absolute number one both on the canal and the river. I tried other baits yesterday but it is maggot that got virtually everything. On the river its different, I will still use two rods but the feeder rod will have a cheese/bread feed with a halibut pellet or other partical bait, and I will leave it in without tinkering. The other rod will be an avon/waggler trotted to loose feed. Groundbait for both is simple brown crumb, no use complicating this with fancy, expensive mixes.
Didn’t do anything else yesterday apart from a chapter uploaded to Booksie before I left.
14 May 2020
Just found out that the Wayne’s tackle shop is open so its off to the allotment, get my gear, ride to the shop – they are only serving fom outside so you have to know what you want – and then cycle to the canal. I’m taking the long way round this time as the full cycle along the canal is very prone to punctures, the hederows that edge the canal are larely thorny and when they drop it fills the path with little needles. Modern tyres are great but still I don’t want to start fixing punctures when I have all my tackle loaded up. Looking forward to it very much, nice day too.
13 May 2020
Off to the garden centre this morning, the first time we are allowed to go since the pandemic hit. Only one person in at a time and the store limited to thirty people, we will have to go in separately and wear face masks and protective gloves, all part of the ‘new normal’. Another quiz tonight with the kids, this time Adam is quizmaster, it was enjoyable last time and should be again. Fishing tomorrow, I will probably go later in the morning or even early afternoon and fish on till the evening. No tackle shops are open as yet so I will use worms from the allotment, bread, and pellets.
12 May 2020
Same old routine, up, fruit, write, cup of tea, news, coffee, gardening, bits of other stuff. Watch the Churchill film with Gary Oldman, The Darkest Hour of course it presented the hagiography as these things usually do but what is the truth anyway? Regardless, it was entertaining, and well acted by Oldman. There will be a notable abscence of new productions in the weeks to come following the lockdowns.
11 May 2020
Allotment day again, this time though I will be sorting my fishing tackle out for Thursday as the lockdown has lifted regarding outdoor activity, not much else has altered and people should start adapting to a new normal but, for now, the garden centres are open and I can go fishing. I could also play golf but I’m not too fussed about that and who knows if the clubs are open anyway. Our garden is looking a bit special, the plants are maturing and blending beautifully.
10 May 2020
It was a good quiz, the kids enjoyed it and we got to see each other and share a bit of banter, albeit through the benefit of technology. Same again today, a walk to the allotment and a bit of work then back and a bit more faffing about. Boris – the prime minister – will anounce some easing of the lockdown this evening which, for me, will mean I can go fishing, not a massive blow if he doesn’t but I won’t deny it will be welcome
9 May 2020
Best day of the year so far, glorious. Day at home in the garden doing a bit of potting and reading the paper. I don’t know what life’s about, I’ve spent a long, long time trying to figure it out but it still evades. I think the answer is there just that our conceptual capacity is not yet up to the task. If it was, and here’s the rub, we wouldn’t be what we think we are, ie homo-sapiens. But for now we carry on, which is one thing I do know you’ve got to do. Talking of questions and answers I’ve agreed to be question master for an online quiz between the kids tonight on the new conferencing app, Zoom. Four categories and an in between task where I will ask them all to draw a cat reading a newspaper, should be fun if it all works out. I’m having a run through with Katie as she thinks – incorrectly I would argue – that I am a techno-phobe.
Great weather by the way, it’s only early May and I’ve got me tan back already, doesn’t look likely that we will spend time abroad this winter but, if climate change is real – and it carries on like this – we won’t have too, ha! Still publising my book on Booksie at a chapter a day, its up to 300 plus readers but this is a misleading figure. It is a good website though and it serves the purpose, I’m looking forward to starting the new book but before that I might re-work one or two of the chapters from my PhD for articles.
8 May 2020
Groundhog day. Off to the other allotment to do a bit of the same – planting, weeding, tidying up. Gardening is decent work, its physical but okay. I’m not going back to the gym when it re-opens, what for? yoga is good, very beneficial, but I don’t want to be tied to a class three times a week and I certainly don’t want to pay for it. Also it involves being around people and I have gone off that for a game of soldiers.
7 May 2020
Usual lockdown day, only allowed out to do one form of exercise so its off to the allotment again. The weather is good, warm and dry so, although it is early in the season, the plots and the garden are doing well. Even though I haven’t got a greenhouse the makeshift super coldframe I built over winter is doing a good job. Still not bought an ounce of compost either.
6 May 2020
Don’t miss people, at all. The shopping is done twice a week, we are going this morning, to Morrisons on the docks, but comfortably it could be done once a week. Home delivery will play a much bigger role when lockdown eases and ‘last mile’ technology will be at the forefrone. But people, face to face, talking, nah, take it or leave it, no actually, its just leave it. One exception, I do miss seeing the kids but that won’t be too long away as the restrictions are begining to be talked about already. I will be buying my new fishing license over the weekend in expectation.
5 May 2020
Much the same today, fresh air, sunshine and growing food. The world is a much cleaner, quieter place without the swarms of petro-engine transport, new thoughts about the economy are the next stage, surely.
4 May 2020
Lovely morning and another nice day lined up, who would have thought that having a great garden and two allotments makes you feel like a you’ve cracked it? It’s real you see, doing something, and, well, its a bit magic too. The garden centres, like everywhere else, are closed but many local ones are delivering online orders, except for compost, not because its too heavy but because there isn’t any available. Mmm, well I’ve got as much as I need thanks, four composting enclosures, two quick composters and a rotating composter, as much horse manure as I can cart about and every single bit of it organic and peat free. It isn’t easy getting it from the plots to the house but I have a system and it works. One of the best jobs is getting a pair of gloves on and sifting through the well prepared compost and then sieving it so it is like flour for the seedling and cuttings. Its a good life when you get people out of your head and think about well-rotted compost instead.
3 May 2020
In all probability the travel and airline industry – as we know them – are finished for the forseeable. For us tha means a re-evaluation of what we intended to do, certainly for this year. It means that this country is favourite for a bit more exploring and, for me, the best way is on foot or on a bike. This has got me thinking about another national/long-distance trail, the Thames Path has been on the back burner for a while but I also fancy Offa’s Dyke, bit of planning needed, which is fun in itself. Been for a run today and in the potting shed for a couple of hours. Sad to say that I’m getting to a high ish standard at PS4 golf and I’m spending a fair bit of time on Fishing Planet (its good).
2 May 2020
The native inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego lived in mobile dwellings made of sticks. Nomads, moving to wherever the hunting took them and like all such people they did not thrive. I read once that around the end of the nineteenth century Europeans on a boat noticed the natives watching them. It was bitterly cold yet the people wore virtually no clothing, they shivered and looked at the boat unable to understand, even after generations of exposure, that the people there were more comfortable than them. It is a false notion to believe that indigineous cultures are somehow closer to nature, more at one with the universe, happier, contented, spiritually sublime than we are. They struggle constantly, are hungry, afraid, capricious, violent, irrational and lack the conceptual capacity to improve. Homo-sapiens – which we all are – lived in caves for millenia, is that better than what we do now, would you like to try it? So one says to another what a life we live here, out in the open, the freshest of foods, at one with nature, the perfect life, so why do we all die so young?
The material aspect of life, food, warmth, comfort, security, energy, transport, luxury, choice, medicine, health, pain relief, cleanliness, has been made commonplace for vast numbers of humans on earth. We have thought about it, tried different ways of achieving, are still trying different ways, organised cultures to maintain and progress ourselves along this path. And it is a very good path. Sometimes we disagree how to achieve the best method of life for our specific culture, then we fight, then, afterwards, we return to the path.
We now have the conceptual capacity to achieve material satisfaction. It is, however, not enough. Like the people on the shore, shivering in the cold, we cannot yet imagine a world of comfort from the problem that we all still face. What are we here for? This is an existential problem that one day will be solved, or at least we will set along the path towards its solution. As yet we do not see that this is possible. We fear death and in by doing so forget to live. We turn to religion with all that entails. We meditate thinking we can turn our minds off. We worry and dream, we turn to charlatans for answers, or drug ourselves away from the pain. The process is available somewhere for the better life of the mind to be sought, the pain of existence will be overcome by us and for us, somehow, just like we ended toothache.
1 May 2020
Produce is growing well, the book is being uploaded a chapter a day, guitaring good, painting okay, not doing yoga, running about twice a week, cycling nearly everyday, playing golf on the PS4 and fishing on the same platform, still reading Shakespeare, lots of good stuff to watch on the box, eating and resting very well. Yep.
29 April 2020
I like the easiness of these days, the freedom from doing the unnecessary activities that allows me to waste my time doing other unnecessary things. Watched an interesting programme about the value of high-end art, what is there to conclude from that? Well for one some people with a lot of money seem to have an unquenchable drive to obtain products that are deemed to be special to them, of course that higher the price tag the more special they think they are perceived to be. Well if it works for them fine. There are a few lacks to this method of approaching fulfilment. When the price goes down the value is lost, phfuff! Art as a commodity is a daft way of seeing the world but, paradoxically, ir is a way of seeing it.
One artist who I had never encountered before produced work that looked sublime, well to me it did, I don’t know art history or theory and don’t care to learn about it, but I know one or two bits about perception and this guy knows, I think.
28 April 2020
We are looking at new places to live. Things are great here, the district is one of the best in the area and, in recent months has got even better. Consequentially our house price has risen. We have a lovely garden and two good allotments, the area has a lot going for it but – and it is a big but – it is still an urban environment and we want rural, rural with less house and more land. I think it has to happen although it is an upheaval when things are settled.
27 April 2020
The signs are showing of the virus petering out. When the post-covid analysis industry starts one truth may be seen to be that it was just a bad strain of influenza. Of course the argument will be that the implementation of lockdown prevented widespread devastation, maybe it did, maybe not. Anyway narrative on relaxation, I believe, will begin very soon and within a fortnight practical measures will be brought in. That doesn’t mean things will revert to ‘normality’ there will be startling changes many of which will be for the general good.
Quick run round the park this morning then as normal. I’m failing with a drawing/painting at the moment so I am probably going to experiment and try something a bit abstract with it, human faces are the problem, I may have a look at lessons in the future.
26 April 2020
Woke again to clear skies and birdsong. More jobs to do at the allotments, always more to do. There is a lot of complex prescriptive guru-babble about leading a good life (whatever that is) but one aspect is close to universal, you have to do something. Even spending time creatively procrastinating can be seen in some ways as doing something, especially if it is formatted with a web of lies as to how much or how well the individual is doing. For non-bullshitters though doing something real and meaningful is crucial to life. Human relationship with nature – not polar bears or dolphins – is fundamental to this but it requires thinking about. There are so many pushes and pulls in society that it is difficult to process the information towards an end that is fruitful. Take money, for instance. Does anyone have a solid plan as to how much they need, how to get the right amount in the least harmful way and then, when the right amount is acquired, to maintain this against future developments. Even the super-rich don’t seem to look much further than more, more, more.
Time to start protecting the strawberries, we have three beds all of which should produce good crops, these are one of the crops (they nearly all are actually) that taste incomparably better to what you can buy in shops. So it is worth doing, well worth doing.
25 April 2020
It is hard to make sense of how people will manage the future when the lockdown ends. It cannot be too bold to state that 2020 saw the biggest changes in modern history, whatever happens people are still people and there will be both good and bad from this.
Off to the supermarket this morning for our bi-weekly shop. Only one person in per household and a half-hour wait to get in with the obligatory two metre distance between people. It is becoming a bit of a drag and it must be very difficult for people on time constraints. It is looking very unlikely that anything other than essential travel will commence soon or that international travel will happen till next year. How the authorities manage the variables caused by the virus will be interesting to see.
24 April 2020
Another day in – well three hours at the allotment doing jobs then the rest of the afternoon in the garden at home. Not exaggerating to say that the environment is palpably cleaner and quieter due to the lockdown, in only five full weeks! Wildlife is thriving and I can’t wait to get back fishing now that fossil fuel engines are seen to be what they are, filthy pollution makers.
23 April 2020
Off to the old allotment to plant carrots and paint the shed, its a glorious morning and looks set to stay that way all day. Living is better if it is kept simple, productive and active…well that’s an old man talking for sure, but there could be some sense in it.
22 April 2020
A great deal of disaffection with life is caused by exposure to other people. This is not, I don’t think, a curmudgeonly statement rather one that has been though through. Of course it is specific to me how can such an idea not be the result of inclination and experience. Let me explain.
Our minds have copious departments vying, like any organisation, for preference and priority, these departments are called concepts. If anything about us can be described at the beginning of life as blank then it is the contents of these conceptual departments. They soon fill up. Imagine a room full of balloons slowly expanding, each one directing our behaviour towards certain actions as its size increases, this is our belief system being formulated. In adulthood we exhale the content of the balloons through language, like a church organ creating musical notes. Depending on the skill of the individual the expression of conceptual clarity varies significantly.
The balloons, however, are in constant flux, incessantly demanding priority, often at odds like magnets forced together. This is the source of worry. Other people create difficulties through stimulating myriad conceptual reactions. No-one is object in this, we do the same to others. A form of intelligence – hard won – allows particular individuals to manage the mind. Within all there is an truth, this shining grain is the individual and all action should endeavour to satisfy this truth. One grain, in a maelstrom of constantly moving balloons, filling, pressing, releasing, sometimes exploding, pandemonium. Who would ever make the effort to find it?
The lockdown continues and I miss nothing about the aspects of society that have been withdrawn other than the opportunities to continue fishing, but that will be one of the first relaxations. The rest, for now, is like the air, clearer, quieter, cleaner, better.
21 April 2020
I’ve put the book on a site for new authors called Booksie, I have not much idea how it works, it is American though so sooner or later they will want me to upgrade. I really just wanted a place to put it in public as it took so much effort to produce. The site is handy actually and I have put the Shakespeare article on as well, good luck to anyone reading that. I am working on the next one trying to draw the characters and plot, don’t know if I will enjoy the process as much this time.
Same again today, weather breezy but warm, great for growing.
20 April 2020
More of the same really, good run this morning and a day enjoying the great weather and preparing the plants. Missing the fishing a bit but the lockdown will relax soon, in the UK I reckon about another month.
19 April 2020
Yes, got to say it we are alright at gardening, the new allotment is coming on great, the bare bones were there already and it had been virtually fallow for at least a year so the soil is in superb condition. In already are beetroot, turnips, radish, dahlias (all the fruit including the rhubarb was planted) and lots of spare plants from the garden at home oh and, of course, lots of onions…
18 April 2020
Decided to put my novel on a site called Booksie, who knows? someone might read it, the main thing is to just get it out there, it would probably suffice for me to print it out just start another but it feels better doing it like this. I have just put the Shakespeare essay on, that should get them thinking.
Might put some chapters of my PhD on as well, don’t know yet. The days are spinning out okay given that the country, and the world come to that, is facing a real crisis. We are, after all, just organisms vying for perpetuation, everything else is too, including viruses. The key to this one is in the numbers, we will outlast it as a species.
Quick visit to the old allotment to plant the first lot of Gladiolas, then wait around outside the supermarket while Carol gets the weekly shop, it’s always fun carrying it back on the bikes. We are fit, strong and healthy, that should be enough to survive the virus when we get it as everyone probably will.
17 April 2020
“We’ll be fighting in the streets, with our children at our feet, and the morals that we worship will be gone”
Another three weeks of lockdown in England, the world pandemic will start to become very serious to ordinary people when they realise life has changed beyond recognition. There will be no travel, no socialising, no shopping as an activity, no sport, sans everything. There will be developments that cannot be foreseen, not all bad, and from the devastation a new way of thinking about life will get people through, hopefully. It might seem so but this is not the time for the slothful.
For me, well, a run this morning and more allotment gardening – from the old plot I have liberated half a dozen okay trough planters three of which I have already filled up with herbs. This year has been a step up in terms of seed planting and it is right in the middle of the process, so I’m well busy.
Still watching some good stuff on demand but for how long is anyone’s guess as the film/TV industry is also in lockdown. Ozark series 3 was brilliant, great script and acting, tense as hell…phew hope I can find another as good as this, and Better Call Saul series 5 is coming to an end so I better do some searching.
16 April 2020
One of the strange aspects of the lockdown is that nothing seems to happen, it is great in some respects so quiet, peaceful, cars are off the road, pollution is falling, people are walking, cycling or just taking things much, much slower. Who knows some good may come out of this.
Normal day for us, allotment planting and relaxing in the garden.
15 April 2020
Pleasant day, jobs in the garden at home, getting the containers sorted and loads to do in the potting shed. We planted red cabbage, ordinary cabbage and radish at the new allotment yesterday as well as taking the fleece of the onions, hopefully the pigeons won’t devastate the latter crop. Went to Homebase on the docks but that too was closed, businesses are failing now, Debenhams, Oasis, Warehouse and others all in administration, I couldn’t care less actually, it’s time for a new economic model so the quicker the better. Transport, new forms of transport to be more precise, will be the impetus to it, I think, as will technology, infrastructure and a flexible, highly educated workforce, England has all of these elements.
Started reading the novel again and there are mistakes on the first two pages, bummer, nothing to it but another edit. During this one I will decide what to do with it together with working on the structure of the next story.
14 April 2020
Finished the final edit this morning, that equates to about five hundred other mornings working on it. Doesn’t feel like working though, perhaps we need other words to better describe an activity that is important to an individual yet has little transactionary value to others, I enjoyed the process and I have the bones of the next one ready.
Still in lockdown, the DIY stores are open as are the garden centres, potentially you can be fined if you go to these for anything other than essentials, anyway we have a rat in the garden which needs killing so we are going for some poison, might as well have a look if they have any interesting plants while we are there eh?
13 April 2020
Just been looking back at my paintings, I don’t enjoy the process, some artists talk about being lost in the moment, I wish I could be although I do not consider myself an artist. Probably its because I’m scared of failure, which is why I have to put in so much regular effort into the activities I do, sooner or later I can perform the skill without the nervous energy that can be a hindrance. Its the same with guitar, or fishing, certainly with golf but never with writing. I hardly ever edit the journal or the pages of the website, what comes to mind goes to the paper. I’m pleased with them though, the drawings and the paintings.
12 April 2020
Apart from the fishing there is nothing amiss about the lockdown for me. Actually it is a bind not being able to see the kids but I message them daily on Facebook and speak to them individually during the week, they are all doing fine. I’m off to the allotments again today this time for a good weed and tidy – one of the regular and most important aspects of gardening. We have acquired, free of course, a compost rotatory with a broken frame which. I think, I have managed to work round. I’m going to try it today and if it works then the compost should be ready in weeks rather than months.
The book will be finished this coming week still don’t know what to do with it, Kindle looks favourite.
11 April 2020
Jane Eyre was interesting, a modern production and imaginative, what I mean by that is that it requires imaginative participation from the audience. This is far from new of course, think of Chorus in the plays, or any good book. But it is an ability, I would argue that it is better to be born with the capacity, although it can be acquired. It can also atrophy like a wasted muscle. Tele-visual productions, good as they can be, are generally for the lazy-minded, requiring little genuine interaction. Imagination becomes underused and fat, not interested in anything other than pizza-time TV, wanting bigger dragons with more blood and better fire.
10 April 2020
I wasn’t enjoying Cymbeline but I am now, it’s Shakespeare for goodness sake and if there is nothing left left other than the life-allowing basics and the works then so be it. Fortunately there are, still, many things to interest, scores of good films, a few truly exceptional ones recently such as, A Sun, a Taiwanese film about a dysfunctional family, Phantom Thread, another bullseye from Daniel Day Lewis. There are others that I could recall and some yet to be seen, Parasite, and The Lighthouse. We will be trying the new theatre productions from this evening which, because of the lockdown, is offering top screenings free for a month, including a range of Shakespeare plays, tonight, I think, is Jane Eyre which should be interesting. Also not forgetting the tremendously entertaining extended series which are streamed through Netflix, Now TV and Amazon. The best of these is surely Better Call Saul a spin-off from the hit Breaking Bad but superseding it by far. Currently we have just finished the Spanish production Money Heist and have started the new series of Ozark.
That’s for the evening of course, today has a great weather forecast so its the allotment and then back to enjoy the garden. It’s Good Friday today and the country is in lockdown, nothing to be done for people but to stay at home. The churches too are closed for services, I hope the Christian hypocrites never return to their knees and we turn their beautiful buildings into public places.
9 April 2020
Gorgeous day again. Going for a run then straight in the garden for a days enforced, but not entirely unwelcome, lockdown…actually its becoming quite strange, the air is clear and its very peaceful, revolutionary times.
8 April 2020
Can’t quite believe the change in the weather, its now shorts and t-shirt, even full-blown sunbathing in the garden! Been to the allotment and planted a dahlia bed, the tulips, daffodils and hyacinths at the old allotment are outstanding. Potatoes are in, well the early ones are, and the next lot will be planted by the end of the week. The lockdown is still on and the chances are that full measures may be taken meaning that all outdoor activity, other than one shop per household, will be prohibited. With this in mind we are trying to get as much done at the allotments as we can, better to plant too soon than not at all.
7 April 2020
I read Shakespeare almost daily. From it I get insight into the state of who we are, which doesn’t change much, and sublimity from the soaring quality of its presentation. I am not great at answering questions about the works on quiz shows but I do know certain aspects of what he is going on about. Some days I read a section of a play – currently Cymbeline – and find the ideas tiresome, repetitive, predictable and futile, never, of course, the language which is as pure as “unsunned snow”, but just the business of man. I think Shakespeare found it tiresome too, towards the end of his writing for the stage, which is why he went home to do the every day things. He never got over the death of Hamnet, who could? and he developed his transcendental ideas through the Sonnets until he died.
More gardening today after a trip to the supermarket. It is allowed once a day together with one form of exercise of no more than an hour. In fairness we abide by the rules and limit our shopping to no more than two exposures per week today being one of them. It is a lovely day and we are cycling along the river to the docks, no allotment today but there are still jobs to do in the garden. I have been doing hardly any yoga over the past two weeks on the justification that it gives my body a rest, gonna have to start again soon though, indoors of course.
6 April 2020
Into the third week of the lockdown and, fortunately, there are no further developments regarding tightening of measures. It will be strange when things start to relax, people will still be very cautious, personally I couldn’t care less as long as I can go fishing. I hope it shakes people up a bit and brings with it new codes of expectation. What do people want from life?
5 April 2020
Set to be the nicest day of the year so far in terms of the weather, 15-18 degrees and sunny. The lockdown means only one outside venture per day so, as the allotments are well on schedule, it is a run round the park and then a day in our garden. Always things to do, weeding of course, and more pots to sort. I did the dahlias yesterday and this year I am going to step up the cuttings starting with these, apparently the quality of the flowers are better from dahlia cuttings than tubers. Very pleased with the new netting we bought and the cabbage run is now sorted (see Growing Stuff page) Rhubarb Charlotte for pudding last night, first of the season and, need I say, delicious.
4 April 2020
People are saying how privileged people are, in these unique times, if they have an allotment to visist and ten, well we are doubly blessed! Off to the new one today to finish off the brassica netting and the fruit cage that we started yesterday. Netting is not as easy to put up as you might think, there are many different grades of mesh/quality and butterfly netting – which keeps them off the cabbages – is very expensive. So we ordered a 50m roll of builders debris netting and it has worked a treat, it looks the part too. One 15m cabbage run and a 15m square soft fruit area done with loads still left on the roll. We tried the cheap fleece on offer from Lidl but it didn’t work. First rhubarb from the new patch to be harvested today.
3 April 2020
Each morning I have the same routine, up between seven and eight, yoga stretch, salt wash for the sinuses, fruit for first breakfast and some currants for the Blackbirds. In the past few days I have stayed outside in my dressing gown for a minute or two to breathe the air, it is cool and fresh, almost as I remember it to be when I lived in the Lake District. It is because the engines are not turning over.
Shed painting today at the old allotment. Soon this will be over and I am mentally planning some interesting trips over the next few years, if the finances will allow. An extended winter break is the first thing, in Portugal or Southern Spain/France, then fishing/walking trips at the start/end of the summer/ These don’t have to be that far afield I would just like to experience some other areas of England or even Ireland. Probably need to hire a car for that but I won’t do it unless it was electric, that won’t be long off either.
2 April 2020
The pandemic is getting worse, the USA is now in crisis with death rates expected to be in the tens of thousands, it would be surprising if life got back to what it was in the immediate future. No social interaction, no sport, basic economic interactions, tens of millions unemployed and without hope, these are conditions for revolution. During this time I can only do what I do and outdoors this entails growing produce and flowers. Thank goodness for the allotments and the glasshouse that I built during winter. Today I am staying at home but will do a bit outside, might even do a yoga session too, might not though.
1 April 2020
I have just looked at some of David Hockney’s new paintings. He lives in Normandy and, like the rest of Europe, he is in lockdown. He is 83 years old and paints as if it were his first day with a brush, vibrant. I struggle with meaning, always making reasons to justify the worth of doing stuff. Most of the effort anyone experiences is to get the body through it, food, shelter, warmth, excercise etc, but it has a diminishing return. Perhaps it would be better to look at it the other way. If nothing were done there would be no human life, but that isn’t possible because the will never allows it. So the process of living has to be its own justification, so the logical implication is to make the process as interesting and as pleasant as it can be. Very few can do this on their own. Processes overlap, people conflict, people work together for an end. It does not matter – it cannot matter – that achievements in life are considered as having worth outside of the process.
31 March 2020
More growing stuff to be done, this is all there is to it at the moment. Into the second week of the lockdown and the news is unnervingly static. Businesses, which the government said would be protected are not being and the fallout from this is becoming evident. We are scarcely affected, allotments are seen as places of refuge, spaces to go to exercise and to clear the mind, food needs to be grown and this year we are growing more of it, as well as flowers of course.
30 March 2020
The economy of the UK has been destroyed, this is the legacy that should be remembered following the first week of coronavirus lockdown. There are no dissenting voices yet millions of individuals and families will be ruined by this action. There are some cases of the disease in the North West and a few isolated deaths. Healthy people who become infected tend to recover as they would from a heavy cold. We will see how the second week goes now that the novelty has passed.
Got some jobs on the allotments today, we are going to extend the growing area in the old allotment and the wood that is reclaimed from this will, hopefully, be usable to make a large cage for the established soft fruit in the new allotment. That’s the plan anyroad.
29 March 2020
Just been for a bit of a run and that’s about all for today. It is ironic that all through the winter I spent my time on guitar, painting, yoga etc and now that the whole country is under virtual house arrest I don’t feel inclined to spend a great deal of time doing them. It is clear now how much of our lives are taken with activities such as browsing shops or pottering out and about and, although I can still work the allotments. there is still a part of the day that has to be filled, not easy that and it’s only been a week, people will go stir-crazy I think, not me though.
28 March 2020
Got some early potatoes in on the old allotment yesterday, today is pretty much the same as it is going to be for a bit. Off to the new allotment to work on the garden area, this will prove a boon in the summer months especially as it is secluded from others. People will be social distancing for a long period after the pandemic abates and it’s fine by me, I’ll see the kids, of course, but everyone else, well, so be it.
27 March 2020
Just like an early summers day, lovely. Gardening and allotmenting are my main focus now, theis would have been the case anyway but it is especially so with the lockdown. We went for a gentle run along the river and into the park entrance to town, very pleasant. The weather wants to make you do stuff a bit too early and, although the winter was wet, windy and horrible, it was mild, so the ground never got the hard frost that cakes it solid.
The book is close to completion now, probably another two to three weeks and then its done. Still the question is what to do with it, there are hundreds of thousands of books out there, billions of words, so do I care what happens to it or what people think of it? not really. Don’t get me wrong if it sells on Kindle then great but probably only a handful of people will ever read it. I’ve loved writing it though and can’t wait till I start the next one.
Allotment today, old one, to plant some early potatoes.
26 March 2020
Effectively all elderly people, those over 70, are under house arrest indefinitely. This is wartime with a difference, the potential casualties are the sick, vulnerable and the old rather than young men and randomised civilians. The death rate just in Spain and Italy is around 700 per day per country, the general opinion is that, in the UK, we have not been hit by the wave yet. It is coming.
Lovely weather, the garden is rapidly coming to life, the allotments are faring very well and the seeds are coming up nicely. I have everything now (apart fro a few sweet peas) under the new construction behind the summer house, it’s working very well. Probably go for a run later but for the rest of the day just normal business, with a little more relaxation thrown in for good times.
25 March 2020
Work in the garden and going for a run later. The Olympics has been cancelled, unsurprising as all sport is now postponed. This virus is worldwide and its a bad one so I suppose all the initiatives are justified, but life will return to normal and then the revolution will begin. Transport first.
24 March 2020
Well, apart from the allotments, that’s it for a few weeks as the Government has issued a compulsory ‘stay at home’ order to try to contain the coronavirus. I hope it’s successful. Going to increase the running as the gyms are all shut and just continue with everything else. Strange times.
23 March 2020
Don’t want to blow my own trumpet too much here but I think I’ve hit the ground running with the canal fishing. The internet helps, loads of good advice and videos on there but the gilt edged one is surely to use a pole. I considered waggler but opted for pole even though my tackle is, at best, a bit Heath Robinson. For the last two sessions I have cycled to a biggish basin on the outskirts or Preston which just looks like a fish hoder. The conditions, I have to say, haven’t been bad, but not great either, breezy but not cold. I’ve kept it as simple as possible, no constant changing of rigs or bait, I tried bread and worm but red maggot gets all the bites. Two rod set up, light ledger with a feeder rod just on the outside of the baited area, plenty of drained maggots and a few good bites four or five fish in the session. The pole rig, however, produces virtually a bit a cast, although you do have to wait a bit on occasion. Decent fish too, skimmers and some decent roach/hybrids. Can’t quite decide the amount of feed to put in although it seems logical to place a carpet of brown crumb and catapult regular small amounts of maggots over this. It took an hour to get going but then it was good fishing. As an extra plus I’ve started to fish well, fluid, with good methods, in two full sessions I’ve had only one tangle on the feeder rod, none one the pole, same rig used on two full sessions with nearly every bite being hit.
Just about to load my bike up when I realised I had a puncture, it was getting on for six o’clock and it was not what I needed. I did, however, take a spare and the gear to change it so, deep breath drink of water and get to it. Fixed it nicely only to get another one on Hurst Green park, round the corner from our house. I will have a look at the state of the back tyre today to see if it’s not too thin.
Just another word about the canal fishing, I can’t forget how poor it was when I stared fishing in the seventies, tiny little fish on microscopic baits and hooks with a few eels as a bonus.
22 March 2020
Looks like a nice day, up early just a bit of editing nothing else today, off to the canal. Plenty of time over the next few weeks/months to do even more stuff indoors/outdoors as the lockdown is just around the corner. This will mean outdoors is for exercise only, no public places can be visited, already this is in place in Italy, Spain and Germany, we won’t be much longer…can’t say it will change my way of life detrimentally.
21 March 2020
Off to the allotments today via Homebase for some paint, Morrisons for a few provisions and the tackle shop for some bait for the canal tomorrow. All this is dependant on whether any of them are open as yesterday the government closed virtually all places of public gathering. Who knows what will happen from this point? It feels like a revolution.
20 March 2020
Just a normal day, yoga at the leisure centre – if its still open, haircut at Studio 69 – if its still open, bit of food shopping at Booths – if they have any food left – and then a bit of gardening, guitar, painting etc which remains perfectly unaffected by the lunacy happening outside
19 March 2020
Busy day yesterday, we planted six long rows of onions at the new allotment and covered them with the fleece protection bought at Lidl last week, it worked well although I’m not sure how durable it will be. If it keeps the birds off in the early stages then that will do. For the cabbages this needs to be up for the entire season so initially this is the fleece (below) but it will probably have to be replaced by specialist brassica netting.
Good yoga class again last night, Yin yoga which is slower but quite difficult and, I find, very beneficial. I t might be the last one for a considerable time, probably it will be, as the pandemic measures are extended. All places of education will close from tomorrow. All international travel is banned. France and Spain are in lockdown with people unable to venture outside other than for exercise or urgent business. Here people have been instructed by the government to avoid unnecessary contact in public places. Plenty to do for me without people.
18 March 2020
Nice start to the canal season yesterday, couldn’t have gone any better really. Longer cycle ride than normal but so much worth it. Salwick basin just looked the business and that does so much for fishing confidence. I set up light bomb ledger with worm but didn’t do anything on that, I fed sloppy brown crumb with small amounts of loose red maggots over the top. Instead of spot feeding over the pole rig I decided to feed in a lateral line to cover the bomb rig. I took the depth and fished bread just off the bottom, when I switched to maggot it was nearly a fish a chuck, roach, hybrids and skimmers. I didn’t have much luck on the other rig until I did the last few casts with the hook loaded with maggots, I hit into something but got snapped, so bigger hook and stronger line length on that one next time. All in all – and given that it was a windy day – I had a decent catch, by far the best I have had from a canal, and it is still very early in the season. Really good.
Coronovirus is getting worse, everything is heading towards lockdown…ah well.
17 March 2020
I try not to wrap this diary around current events in the news. Today, however, is the beginning of the response to the coronavius pandemic, and it is unprecedented in the history of the modern world. In short the government is demanding – without as yet punitive measures – that people avoid public places. This means cinemas, pubs, clubs of all types and any other similar social venues. Already sport has been cancelled in the UK and around the world. By the middle of May it is estimated that all the airline companies in the world will be bankrupt. People are panic buying and it is though that in a few days time, following many other European countries, schools will close for the foreseeable future.
Anyway I’m off fishing, its canal season now that the rivers are in close season and I am going to try Salwick basin, its a decent cycle ride but I’ve got all day and I am going to try some new methods. Looking forward to it.
16 March 2020
Nearly didn’t go to the film festival in Manchester because of the Covid 19 pandemic but I’m glad I did. Not only did I get to see the boys, Katie wasn’t feeling well, but the film was shatteringly good, I think it was called Eternity (but in Peruvian) and told the story of two elderly people struggling for existence in the hostile Andean environment. It will have a lasting effect on me and credit to the writer and director who I am going to look up to see what else he/she has done.
I think Pilates is still on this morning although self-isolation for over 70’s is imminent. Going to do a bit more plant nurturing today, tomorrow is probably fishing on the canal.
15 March 2020
Off to Manchester today, cycle to the station as usual, put the bike in the Hub and away I go! Meetin Adam and Daniel at Oxford Road and then we are going to a Peruvian film festival which should be interesting. Katie was supposed to be coming but Adam stayed at her house on Friday night and they had a row yesterday morning, I had both sides of it and could only listen and empathise with their feelings, they’ll get over it.
The pandemic is spreading, I doubt it but it could get fairly hairy if we’re not careful. Whatever happens the repercussions will need to be weighed up.
14 March 2020
Off uptown on the bikes to pick up a few bits and pieces, no football or sport of any kind today which, being a Saturday, feels strange, oh well loads of other stuff to be getting on with.
13 March 2020
Lidl have got some offers on for gardening gear, in particular 10m fleece runs for only £1.99, so I’ll have to get a few of these. The plan is to use these for brassicas as the butterflies cause mayhem with their caterpillars. The new allotment is coming on terrific, we are well ahead with everything, including our lovely garden at home. Seeds are growing well in the organic compost, a few unwelcome weeds but its useful to learn how to differentiate. All the other hobbies going quite well. I have the usual doubts about life in general – even when it could hardly be better – but that’s part of the test, I think.
Coronavirus has infected the world, not in the body but in the mind. All sport is cancelled, countries are banning travel, schools are closed, its a very, very, mad world.
12 March 2020
It was a good session. I didn’t get there too early, about ten o’clock and there were a few blokes already there a couple of regulars who I had a chat with. The conditions were not great so I tackled up an ounce bomb – which is as heavy as I like to fish – and with the other rod I used the new swivel float tactic, which works very well. The tide came in after an hour or so of fishing and had us all scurrying up the bank, and down again when it waned. Good bag of nice roach and dace which is what I always like to catch, I would like a bonus chub now and again but really these are my target species. Some blokes come just for the perch fishing which is good, and I have had a few nice ones, but I am not bothered if I don’t catch any of these. The wind picked up at the end of the session making bite detection difficult and trotting very hard but I was hitting decent fish every other cast. So that’s it till the middle of June and I have to say it’s made my winter, brilliant fishing even though the weather has been a bit rubbish. Attention is now on the canal, waggler or pole, pole or feeder, feeder or bomb…mmm.
Man Utd and Wolves are the only hope left in Europe, both play tonight behind closed doors as the coronavirus hits sport. Liverpool lost again although they should have dumped Atletico easily, Spurs under Mouriniho are a lost cause.
11 March 2020
Off to the Ribble, weather looks a bit windy but should be okay, back for yoga about 5 o’clock.
10 March 2020
Just been for bait and the Ribble looks flooded, 2.54mtrs on the website which means that tomorrows session looks a bit iffy, but it is the last chance I will get for three months so I’m going anyway, I’ve practised a few different methods so it should be worth it. Just getting on with life at the minute trying my hardest not to waste my time but, you know, proper relaxation is a fine use of the living years it’s just that I have to build my relaxation on the satisfaction of personal achievement. I have to do stuff.
9 March 2020
Pilates this morning then the normal stuff. Fishing has been pushed back till Wednesday because of the weather, last session on the Ribble before the close season, then the canal. Still trying to work out the best method as I don’t have a proper pole rig, I can sort one out and although it is probably the most effecient method it isn’t my favourite way of fishing. Gardening and allotmenting, in a pleasurable way, are wedging a little more time out of my days and, as the weather gets better and the days get longer, this will become more so. Coronavirus is still making people act daft, Italy, unbelievably, is in total lockdown.
8 March 2020
My life is a routine, a good one I have to say because, if it wasn’t, I would change it. Up, between 7 and 8, fruit breakfast, tea, writing/editing, bit of news/weather, read, coffee, PS4 golf, gym/allotment/fishing/golf, back, food, guitar, housework, tea, painting, bit of good telly, main meal, bit more guitar, bit more telly, piece of cake, tea, bed, Shakespeare, sleep.
If that can be transferred to Portugal in the winter months then why not?
7 March 2020
The Fear of the Animal.
A short while ago the world was burning down, or at least Australia was. Armageddon, clearly shown from satellites in orbit, dust to dust. The environmental activist Greta is a world famous social media star, she attracts thousands of people wherever she attends, her voice is listened to by world leaders, she has certifiable mental illness. The BBC has an unacknowledged policy of dismissal to any member of staff publicly doubting climate change. The coronovirus has resulted in an international state of emergency. Essentially it is a sore throat that can cause serious problems to people with existing acute health issues.
The Fear of the Animal.
6 March 2020
Another pleasant day, two in a row we are blessed! Feels a bit like spring and, although I have enjoyed the river fishing and working the allotments, it is time for a bit a warmth. We will probably go to Southern Spain or Portugal for a month next winter, just uproot most of what we like doing here (including BT Sport) and do more of it. Bridge this afternoon at the golf club, even though I am not playing contract bridge any more I will still go to this casual session for a while, just to keep my hand in.
The book is getting close, less than a hundred pages left to edit and I like it. The old saying that less is more applies as a gold rule.
5 March 2020
Good session. I went for bait about half-ten and had my first cast just before twelve. The river was perfect, all the prime pegs were taken but I dug myself a neat little spot just next to the one I normally fish on, good little peg too. Usual catch, lots of dace, small roach, some cracking bonus perch but not big roach or chub. Tried the new waggler set up and it worked a treat. Only another few days left of the season and then on to the canal. Spurs lost to Norwich and the deserved to. Good yoga session straight after fishing, slightly knacked this morning but nothing really. Rest day with bridge this afternoon and a bit of seed planting indoors of course.
4 March 2020
Two wows today, First one Liverpool got beat again – third time in a row – this time by a very good young Chelsea team, watch these boys. Second, the weather has broken good and I’m going fishing, on the river, see you later.
3 March 2020
Just done a weather appraisal and fishing is not going to happen this week I’m afraid, but not to worry, I’m off to the allotments today to get stuck into a few jobs, then footy tonight, FA Cup Chelsea V Liverpool. Hobbies in between, of course.
The media connected world is in the grip of an insane panic over a next to nothing infectious virus that they are making out as the next end of the world. Coronavirus, I’ll give it two weeks.
2 March 2020
The storms have died down, after two weeks, but it is still raining. The wettest February since records began in 1862 and March looks like its trying to compete. This means no fishing. The river is virtually impossible to fish, the canal might net me a few small roach – it is too cold yet – so that leaves the commercial fisheries. Shooting fish in a barrel is almost a direct description of the activity, apart from the fact the fish aren’t hurt, so it doesn’t have a great attraction for me, but it does guarantee easy fishing so maybe.
Apart from that it is, nevertheless, growing season and the seeds are coming up. The compost I am using – from the allotment – is not sterile so there are other seedlings that pop up, but I am working on a method to counter this. I do a bit most days.
Pilates this morning, it is a strenuous class, so the rest of the day is, well, the rest of the day. Starting a new Netflix series today, you have to be judicious with these as they are producing them prolifically, but when you get a gem you know it. Better Call Saul is the new one, not that new actually but series five has just started so I better get cracking.
1 March 2020
Seed potato day at the old allotment, is this what it has come to, oh yes. The committee buy a couple of big bags of top quality seed spuds and dish them out to the plot holders, it also gives them the chance to meet up, do head counts, and sort out the mowing rota. Its kind of a good thing really. Scraping the barrel with the footy today Brighton V Palace but you never know the unexpected sometimes throws up a crackerjack.
The fourth edit is about three-quarters done, I’m pleased with it but ready for it to be completed.
28 February 2020
Couldn’t get in yoga so I’m going to the gym for a run, hopefully 5km then a gentle swim after that. Not a lot else really, a bit of the normal stuff, guitar, drawing etc, it has all become quite normal, I think, maybe, there is another challenge waiting around the corner, there normally is.
27 February 2020
Great yoga class last evening although I was struggling to move properly until I warmed up. It is true that unless you are injured tiredness is no reason to stop training, push yourself, eat well, and rest well, then at it again. Man Utd, Wolves and Arsenal in the Europa league tonight, Man Utd is first choice.
26 February 2020
Champions league over the next two nights, Chelsea will be lucky to get past Bayern but Man City could get something against Real Madrid, actually I know the results as I am writing this on the 28th but I probably would have forecast the same. Pretty tired after the stern Pilates class and the 2.5km run, and when I am tired like this I can get a bit low, especially if I can’t get out properly, which I can’t at the moment because of the lingering shit weather. We have been talking again about a long-stay abroad, maybe Portugal.
25 February 2020
Well the weather is better today so we are going to the allotments to do some more of what is needed. It is a decent way to carry on this, fulfilling, great use of time, feels like you are in control, the mind is relatively at ease, different things to think, no bollocks.
24 February 2020
Plastic
Look at a bird. It flits and scutters, never a seconds peace, always on the lookout for a whack, jittery as hell. Put a worry in peoples minds and they are like the bird, all scattery, blocked up with anxiety, pestered by what might happen, catastrophe expectation, headlines in the news. The environmental crisis/climate change is the big one now, carbon emissions, SU plastic in the ecosystem and all the rest of it. And what happens? everyone blames the big boys. Governments, industry, capitalism, billionaires, everyone who looks likely to be culpable are likely to be targets. But who still drives the big cars, or two cars, or three, or four, per house? Who still has a house full of SU plastic and brings home more everyday? Who wastes food? Buys clothes they don’t need? Ten chemicals to clean a kitchen. Nearly everybody. I don’t.
Good Pilates class followed by a 2.5km run followed by pricking out my leek seedlings.
23 February 2020
Just made a complaint to the BBC, yes I have become a person that does something like that! A TV programme called Our Coast with Adrian Chiles making a stink – rightly – about single use plastics and the devastating effect on the ecosystem. Then he and his co-presenter exchange gifts from a shop wrapped in SU plastic, in a giant plastic carrier. Be interesting to her what tripe they come up with on that one.
Weather cold, damp and windy, weeks of this now and its becoming a drag. England just thumped Ireland at rugby.
22 February 2020
Been watching a lot more stuff on download than normal due to the weather but, do you know, there is loads of good stuff available, films, documentaries, brilliant box sets and, of course, sport. At the moment I am working my way backwards from the new series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, sensational comedy, fearless as all brilliant works are. Chelsea V Spurs in a minute then rugby Six Nations, let the wind blow and the rain hail down!
Just been to the new allotment to pick a spade head up and to put up a rejuvenated bird house. The scruffy allotment isn’t ours by the way.
21 February 2020
Off to the driving range this morning. Usual stuff after that, the new compost method for the seeds seems to be working, I planted even earlier than last year and seedlings are starting to show. The leeks, for instance, are nearly ready for pricking out. One thing this does prove is that you have to keep thinking and tweaking, collect information and experience then use it to get better at what you decide to do.
20 February 2020
Back to the dentist to have the tooth out, great bloke but the tooth didn’t give up easily. Not much today other than the normal indoor stuff, prolonged period of bad weather, got to change soon.
19 February 2020
Yesterday was toughish, sinus ache and a right downer made it difficult to do stuff or see the point of doing it. Tiredness does a lot of it, I think, so you have a good nights sleep and the world seems alright again, well maybe not alright but, nah, its alright, I think.
Liverpool lost to Atletico in a Spanish cauldron, but they were by far the better team, composed and in control for the most part they just couldn’t score, I can’t believe they won’t at Anfield, renaissance versus the cavemen. Spurs V Leipzig this evening, Mouriniho in the drivers seat again, who would bet against him turning something up.
Dentist this morning and again tomorrow, a tooth out and another fitted to the plate. I do feel aggrieved that the basics were hardly done when I was being raised, clean your child’s teeth for goodness sake!
18 February 2020
We did okay last week at bridge and we enjoy Thursday afternoons at the golf club, we like the game, actually, but more often than not we come out of Monday nights contract bridge competition deflated , or at least I do. The difficulty is I don’t understand how to get any better, other than just keep going and suffer humiliation until it properly clicks. I hate the social aspect of it, privileged white Daily Express readers thinking they are light bulbs because they learnt a card game at grammar school forty years ago. Maybe that’s a bit harsh but what I truly cannot reconcile is why I feel chastised for complaining about it. That hurts and it will not be tolerated.
Champions league back tonight, quarter finals.
17 February 2020
Yoga class this morning for an hour and a half, I try to give it full concentration, be mindful of breathing, and to perform the practice as best I can. Odd jobs round the house, our house is a pleasant environment and it is worth making it better bit by bit. Normal other stuff followed by bridge this evening…hmm.
16 February 2020
I originally planned to go to the allotments to do a few jobs but the weather is still very stormy, however, the sun came out and was fidgety so I went. I detoured to take look at the river and it is in flood with the expectation that it will rise further later in the day. Just stayed in the shed mostly and sorted out my pole tackle for the canal season. The river will be closed from March 15 for three months to allow the fish to breed properly, but the canal stays open. Which ever way you look at it canals are pole fishing waters and this can be an expensive game, so I will have to bodge around my tackle to make do, which I will.
15 February 2020
Storm David has arrived hot on the heels of Storm Ciara so its an enforced couple of days in. I used to get frustrated with trying to fill my time productively – whatever that means – but now I just get on with doing this here and that there. I don’t get so uptight about watching a decent TV programme or playing PS4 either, in fact I’ve just watched a documentary about the Tears For Fears album Songs From The Big Chair what a record that is, had a big effect on me too. Southhampton V Burnley was as expected and last nights match Wolves V Leicester didn’t live up to billing. And speaking of footy Man City have just been banned from Europe for two seasons for financial irregularities, shame.
14 February 2020
Another yoga class today, third in a week, haircut after that, then, mmm, just more seeds to plant and the other hobbies.
13 February 2020
We have started moving, splitting and mulching in the garden at home which means there are a few good plants that need to be relocated. Previously I would have put these into a rescue area at the back of the summer house and used them again if needed or given them away. At the new allotment we have decided to organise a decent sized garden area where we can plant surplus or bring plants on, this will also be a pleasant place for us to sit and enjoy when the weather gets warmer. A couple of years ago we bought two Kilmarnock willows from Homebase for next to nothing and put them in the garden. However, like trees do, they got bigger than expected quicker than expected, so I have just taken them up. I thought they might go in pots near the patio doors but they were too big when I put them in, then, when the storm hit they fell over and broke other pots. So the biggest one I re-potted into a biggish planter and put it at the front of the house as a feature, the second one is going to the allotment. How do you get it there without four wheels and an engine? easy.
12 February 2020
Excellent film. Every aspect adding to make it a masterful production, a pleasure to watch. Off into town this morning to pick a few bits and pieces up, yoga tonight, still a bit tender from Pilates but that will loosen up. The weather is supposed to ease of today, it has been very stormy.
11 February 2020
The storm is not for giving up, had to move and re-pot one of the willows from the back garden to the front, the other one is heading to the allotment in the next few days. As the weather is still so bad we are just having a walk to both plots to check if everything is okay, I’m sure it will be but it does no harm checking. While I am there I will take the bird boxes down from the new allotment and, in the next few days, bring them home for repair and a spruce up. The film yesterday was good and we are just about to watch Phantom Thread by Paul Thomas Anderson with Daniel Day Lewis as the lead. Did okay at bridge on Monday we are learning.
10 February 2020
Still in the grip of the storm so nothing planned toady except a Pilates class in the morning. Usual hobbies and then a film, Lady Macbeth which is a BBC indie film.
9 February 2020
The worst weather to hit the North West for a long time. It is a proper storm and will last for days, winds averaging fifty mph and steady rain means extensive flooding, including our garden, although the drain we put in sorted it out quickly. The Ribble is over six metres and has burst its banks all over the place, Avenham park – where I cycle on my way to Church Deeps – is underwater. Ah well it’ll all be normal again soon. It does mean, however, another day in and this time I am getting a bit twitchy, it’s not bad though, more of the same, guitar, writing etc.
8 February 2020
Sports day! Not bothering with anything else except the normal stuff, editing, art, etc Everton V Palace at 12.30 Ireland V Wales 2.30 Scotland V England at 4…all free, all in comfort, been retired for nearly half a decade, still fit as anything so bollocks to it, no reason not to.
7 February 2020
In a very good way my days span out similarly. Today it’s up at 8, fruit, tea, edit, coffee, golf (PS4), journal, allotment, Booths, home, food, tea, guitar, tea, watch something, paint, food, bit of telly, guitar, bit more telly, tea, bed, read Shakespeare, sleep. It is relatively peaceful in Penwortham now, and very peaceful at the allotments or by the river, I like that, never been one for people much and have few qualms about being on my own.
`6 February 2020
Normal stuff today with bridge at the golf club this afternoon. Good day on the Ribble yesterday, good level, cold but calm. Started by running a bomb to the right of the my peg on single maggot to see what was interested while I tackled up a heavy waggle rig. Had a small roach away followed by a nice perch. The peg I got, which is my favourite so far is unusual in that it flows both ways so, when I put the feed in it goes left and right. This could be a problem normally but when you are fishing with two rods it kind of works. The heavy waggler method was useless for dace, the took it on the drop and didn’t even register a bite, I have an idea that might counter that. So I concentrated on the light bomb with, mainly, maggot and occasionally bread. Really I should have used bread more, the bites are less frequent but the quality is much better, just too greedy. Good mixed bag of fish, very enjoyable. Yoga practice was great too.
5 February 2020
Not that much of an early start, about six o’clock, bit of editing then off to the Ribble, The weather and the river condition promise a much better day than the last fortnight has offered so I am hoping for a good day. I keep tweaking the methods to enable me to fish well in the right conditions. Got to be back for yoga tonight at the leisure centre, the Spurs V Southampton in the FA Cup replay.
4 February 2020
Few hours in our garden at home. Our garden is extremely pleasant but, although not a big one, there are a lot of plants in it requiring a fair bit of work. Most people have neither the time or the desire to do this so their gardens usually look shit. Any plants we split or do not want will go to the garden section of our new allotment which we are working on, should be good. Watching Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler this evening, it has good reviews so I am looking forward to it.
3 February 2020
Went for an hour to Vernons to try out a new method for waggler fishing, didn’t catch anything but that wasn’t the point. I am trying to be able to employ as many methods as I can in order to be a better angler. I intend to try different venues around the country in years to come so it is important to have a flexible approach. Dropped my tackle off at the allotment and did an hour or so tidying up. Bridge tonight, uhmm.
2 February 2020
Quiet day in, maybe that’s a decent part of a good life, I don’t know. A few jobs to do in the garden, oh one thing, the variety of birds has increased noticeably over the last few weeks. From the ever present (and very welcome) Blackbirds, Robins and Sparrows, we now have lots of Blue Tits, regular Great Tits, Coal Tits, Wrens, the occasional Long Tailed Tits, and Goldfinches. This, I think, is a combination of lots of different plants (most gardens are deserts for birds) water, the right food in the right place and, maybe, the reduction in traffic. whatever the reason is it is a pleasure to see.
Normal hobbies indoors and the rugby is on this afternoon, only semi-interested but might be a good match France V England.
1 February 2020
Off to the new allotment to knock up a container for a few garden tools. A shed actually isn’t needed as we have a good one at the old allotment just a couple of hundred yards away, the idea is to have a few tools just so we don’t have to cart them to and fro, if someone nicks them well, hey hum. Leicester V Chelsea is today’s game, I think this may be the last one before the new winter break, after that its full on again, including the Champions League. Tried watching rugby Six Nations, Wales V Italy but it is so one sided it qualifies as a mis-match, whats the point?
Not been fishing for nearly two weeks, Wednesday looks a likely contender.
31 January 2020
Last day of being in the European Union and I couldn’t give a monkeys either way. It means nothing apart from giving hyper-centralised power brokers a kick in the right place. Next we should de-centralise Westminster, although I really couldn’t care less about that either. What changes, really? Life is for the most part the same and, in many ways is getting much better. Leonardo said if you are looking for truth look to nature.
30 January 2020
“Its been a long cold, lonely winter”… I love George Harrison but the sun isn’t out quite yet. Is it spring when the bulbs pop their heads through? maybe, for me the it is when the Camellias burst their buds and decide to wear their spring dresses. We have two in pots outside the patio doors of the garden room, I nurture them through the autumn so that they are in prime nick come this time of year. I will put a photo up when they bloom.
We went to the new allotment yesterday, there is an established compost heap on our plot with perfect, loamy soil about three years old, perfect. So some of it comes back for my spring seed planting. Near the communal building there is an area where people leave odd bits and bats for others to take and use, yesterday we got a serviceable wheelbarrow and a garden fork.
Good yoga session too! In the evening at Penwortham, this one was Yin yoga, a gentle practice but difficult in its own way, you have to hold each pose for five minutes, tough at times but what a great feeling afterwards.
29 January 2020
Its all about state of mind and you can change it, that’s what the training is all for. Humans are the only sentients that are aware of their motivations and the potential consequences of following them. It makes us a bit anxious. It isn’t for anything, life, just for being, and being well is, I suppose, something to be grateful for, but we never are, are we. What’s next then?
28 January 2020
Dentist this morning, check up, cycle there about three miles then back for something to eat and then to the gym for a run and row. The workouts have upped a pace since we joined Penwortham, not a bad thing of course, but it is slightly tiring. Just another normal day though with bits of everything thrown in. For the first time this winter the weather is starting to get a bit bollocksy. It seems windy, wet and cold on most days recently and it starts to grate. Ah well, its only weather and it does change, fist time for a few months that I haven’t been fishing, I was thinking about tomorrow but the wind is 20mph plus and a good chance of rain so no thanks.
27 January 2020
A normalish day but a good one. Got up at 7am, roughly the same time every day. Fruit for breakfast. pineapple, melon, grapefruit, orange, kiwi.plum,pear,grapes,persimmon. Cup of freshly brewed leaf tea and off into the front room for some writing. 1000+ words of editing then off to yoga. Back after a couple of hours, PS4 golf (doing very well) coffee, then a bit of gardening. A nice cup of tea, another snack then a few scales on guitar followed by a spot of drawing/painting. Both of these hobbies are proving rewarding. Another brew then a film, Private Life with the guy out of Billions and Sideways, really good actor and a very good film indeed. Lentil and sweet potato curry with home-made flat bread, then a quick change and off to play bridge. Didn’t do too badly, still mixed but we are still relative newbies. Watched SAS Who Dares Wins then stayed up to watch the FA cup tie between Bournemouth and Arsenal 1-2 to the Gunners. Bed 1pm.
26 January 2020
Just watched a couple of FA cup matches, Man Utd V Tranmere and Shrewsbury V Liverpool, the latter match had interviews with fans and the recording picked up clearly how passionate the supporters were, both about the club and the town. And I thought, why not? It isn’t just about football it is about community, these supporters were generational; very young kids, mums, all stages of older people, young girls, grandmums, brash lads, lads with beards, disabled folks, singing, cheering. One song…”Shrewsbury till I die, I’m Shrewsbury till I die”… hit home, and I thought, why not?
Yoga at Penwortham this morning, another new class, this one is an hour and a half, should be good.
25 January 2020
We moved the bench from the old to the new allotment, people were wondering what we were doing, let them. Met our neighbour on the new plot, a typical Prestonian about four or five years older than me. An okay bloke full of information about what to do or not to do, thanks very much, and a ten minute life history including a hip operation due in April. He has two shed though and a neat little greenhouse so I will keep friendly, of course.
Katie has told us that she and Dom are getting married in November, a low key register office ceremony with friends and family. Good on ’em!
Finished watching The Americans on Netflix. Six series of captivating viewing with brilliant performances from the two leading actors, Keri Russell and Matthew Ryhs. It just proves that a good people story trumps a shaky plot all day long.
24 January 2020
I suppose there is satisfaction to be gained from doing stuff well, especially given all the effort it takes, not just practice, but thinking and application. The satisfaction is not expected from an audience but from the thought that I haven’t wasted my time.
23 January 2020
Giving the novel another edit before I do something with it. This time, as expected, it is quicker, a thousand plus words a session, with attention given to format – page breaks, paragraphs etc. It is good though, he said, solipsisticly. Bridge at the golf club this afternoon and footy again this evening, Liverpool V Wolves, good side Wolves so it should be a good watch, Liverpool are the best side in the world and they play like it, skill, bravery, organised, expecting to win and with the kind of bristling swagger that doesn’t irritate.
22 January 2020
Good yoga class at Penwortham, an hour and fifteen minutes decent mix of poses and meditation, also there and back in no time. Man Utd V Burnley, worth getting back for with a brew and your feet up? you might have thought so, worse performance I have seen from the reds, diabolical, 0-2 at Old Trafford, against Burnley, fucks sake.
21 January 2020
More seed planting today, its an ongoing thing from now till late summer, also going to have a sort out of the house plants. Like the garden and the allotment, virtually all the plants are either nurtured from rescue, grown on from tiny cheap buys, split from existing plant or grown from seed. But houseplants are, I think, more difficult than outdoor plants. The conditions are, of course, alien to them, the light is mostly artificial, they are contained with (often) less than ideal growing medium and they are difficult to water correctly. Succulents and cacti are probably the easiest, I like the former but not the latter, but again you have to be very careful with watering, or lack of it. So a bit of re-potting and sorting out today. The ones here are a new idea, right over a radiator in winter, not easy.
Off to the new gym later on for a bit of a run and, maybe, a dip in the pool. Tonight BT sport has pulled it off again with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Premier League matches, and a choice each night! Chelsea V Arsenal tonight is the obvious contender.
20 January 2020
Just got back from the Ribble. Condition were perfect but the catch was the worst yet, well not if you include a personal best dace. Learnt a couple of things though, first, never tip fish with the rod pointing in the direction of the flow, on a river this will decimate the bite connection ratio, I do this all the time and it is about time I stopped. Second, my homemade bread groundbait makes a superb bread paste…got everyone today on that.
Off to bridge now, said I wouldn’t but, ah well.
19 January 2020
Just a couple of hours at the allotment (new). It’s all done now apart from the garden area which we have decided to use as a rescue/experiment area so, if we see interesting plants on offer but we aren’t quite ready for them at home, in they go, similarly if we dig something up or take cuttings, in they go.
Liverpool V Man Utd today, wow never thought I would see this as a mis-match but it looks like one. Might watch a film as well.
18 January 2020
The last two years have been learning new skills and I am chuffed with my progress. In particular learning guitar finger picking/Spanish technique has gone better than I thought it would, much further to go, of course, but good progress. I always thought I could write well, that it was a part of my character, but it still needs doing and done it I have, every morning get something down and I have enjoyed the process. Other pursuits have gone well too, fishing, art, growing, yoga, running and even learning the preposterously difficult game of bridge. On the PS4 I only play golf, specifically Golf Club Pro, this too requires time, attention and, can I say, skill, to play it well. I thought that the players at the highest level were cheating – using modified controllers or keyboards – and that there was little point trying to match them, however, I have reached a level that I genuinely didn’t think I could, not by luck but by persistence and thinking. It’s only a game, I know, but then again what isn’t?
17 January 2020
Day in. Bit sore from Pilates and the gym but, of course, that’s good. Doing a bit every day in preparation for the growing season, seeds, compost etc, got to say the new allotment is looking good, the soil is great and, although it someone had it last year, they didn’t plant a lot meaning it has been fallow for quite a while. So really its just a case of thoroughly weeding and not a lot else, bit of soil turning over perhaps, should be a good year fingers crossed.
16 January 2020
Quite a full day. Went for coffee in the village in the morning and then round the charity shops. They are everywhere these days and one thing that they are not are charity shops. These are retail stores geared to profit, they have targets to achieve, the displays are well done, the image and layout are corporate, and like all successful businesses they have found a niche in the market. Empty town centre stores, no business rates, volunteer staff and free stock proves a winner every time. And I like them whereas I don’t like normal stores. Who buys jeans from Debenhams at £50 a hoot anymore?
We bought another yoga matt for £2.50. Straight from there to bridge (gulp). It was brilliant, I know, but it has to be said, it was. There is no scoring on Thursday, just two-ish tables and rotating partners, but it gives a little more chance to think, and an opportunity to dissect the hands, which is essential to learning, so, I think, we’ll stick at it.
Home, some food and straight off to Pilates class. This time at the local leisure centre, no cycling to the gym in all weathers this is just a few minutes walk, why would you do otherwise? The reason we joined the previous gym was the fantastic full sized pool, as I don’t swim as much now that is no longer a factor, the rest of it – yoga classes, equipment, facilities – are equally as good if not better, and it is significantly cheaper.
15 January 2020
Bridge was terrible last evening, compounding on the previous week. Perhaps it’s because we didn’t do as well as other weeks, I don’t know, but it seems to have got tedious and dispiriting. What is the best that can be achieved by continuing? beating other people at a card game and showing them how clever you are, and it will take a lot more time and effort to do this, if at all. No other benefits as far as I can see, and the other (big) drawback is sitting in a room for three hours with people who play bridge.
My book is finished. It requires formatting and then, possibly, uploading as an eBook.
Man Utd V Wolves tonight at Old Trafford in the FA Cup replay. In a normal season this would not be that big a game for Man U but this is a big game. In transition you don’t know which Man U team will turn up, at times they have been explosive enough to beat anyone – they beat City and drew with Liverpool, but in other matches they look timid and unsure. Footy is a proper game.
14 January 2020
Day in today but still plenty to do. Seed planting continues with sweet peas, I did some leeks on Sunday and we now have a planting schedule. Got to clean the bike and tighten up the nuts, bolts, brakes etc it is a workhorse with the fishing tackle, allotment produce, and general day-to-day running about. In the next couple of years I will get an electric, i think, but money isn’t as fluid as I thought it might be so that is one to weigh up.
It was tough on the river yesterday, boring through and so windy it was difficult to spot the bites. Then the tide came in and it was a decent one so I was fishing right up on the bank. But, nevertheless, I still caught and I still enjoyed it. Talked to a bloke about the canal and he says he has good success in the basins on waggler, you have to be a bit wary of fishermen’s stories but it was what I was thinking of doing anyway so food for thought.
13 January 2020
Up early, 5.30. The weather is okay at the moment but the forecast is bad with strong winds expected in the early afternoon. When I passed the river on the way to the gym yesterday it was in flood, so really those two conditions should mean a pass regarding a session, but I’m going anyway as the rest of the week is taken with other things…mmm.
12 January 2020
Off to the gym, I’m ready for a yoga session, not a class just a series of basic exercises, but held for loner than normal and with concentration on steady even breathing. After that hydro pool, steam room, sauna and home, hopefully feeling great. Actually its allotment after that for a quick tidy up of the tackle for tomorrows fishing.
11 January 2020
Watched a film with Maxine Peake – good actress from Manchester – called Funny Cow about a girl growing up in the poor working class north of England in the 60’s who became a comedian in the 70’s. Interesting character, dark, ill at ease, loveless, using humour as a weapon. The last line in the film was…”Life was always too much for me, and never enough”
10 January 2020
Off to the new allotment, the new seeds fro the forthcoming season have arrived so its planning time. Do a bit of work when we get there but from now its about growing. Enjoyed the bridge yesterday, I’ve decided there is no point being competitive about the game, so what if you lose, so what if you win?
9 January 2020
Only about twenty pages to go the it will be time to print a hard copy of the novel. Every morning for eighteen months I have either written or edited and it has been a surprisingly enjoyable experience. What to do with it? I think maybe publishing it on Amazon Kindle, I don’t care that much, no that’s not true, I do care but I am less interested in it being well received than it being poorly reviewed. In reality, I think, it will just sit and linger with an odd comment every three months. I can’t just sit on it so I will probably do that. I have taken the Shakespeare piece off the website and I might publish this free as a tester. What I really want is to move onto writing the next one.
Spot of gardening today, bridge this afternoon (hmm) and the usual bits and bobs for the rest of the day.
8 January 2020
Day in. Start some planting I think, sweet peas first, any long cardboard tubes are great, not bog or kitchen roll these are too thin, but I bought a new rod a few months back and it came in a six foot protective biodegradable tube, perfect. The compost is ready, all home made (no not that home made) so there will be no plastic compost sacks from the nursery this year, and a big cash saving too. We are big anti-wasters, hate single use plastics, buy in bulk, grow our own, don’t own a car, but do you know what, in this day and age you can always do more.
Went on the Ribble for a few hours yesterday afternoon, I knew the dream pegs would be taken but I thought, spot of quality dace fishing with the chance of a bonus, what’s wrong with that? It’s taken me a bit but I think I have a good method of hitting the bites, I reckon before too long I could net over a hundred in a session. Painting later and guitar, of course.
7 January 2020
Went to visit Katie and Dom in Manchester yesterday, cycled to the station along the new cycleway, straight into town parked my bike in the new bike-hub got on a train and did the same in reverse, easy-peasy. After that went to bridge, we came a very good second last week but this week it started badly and got worse, we came last! Worse than that was that I hated every minute of it, the playing, the room full of old codgers and weirdos, and the game itself, you spend ages learning it, more ages trying to get okay at it, for what? so you can beat people who have been playing it for 20 years, not sure. Might try a few hours on the Ribble today, not bothered about the peg just go on speck, why not eh?
6 January 2020
I don’t get many punctures on the bike these days, given the hundreds of miles I cover it is extremely durable. But I went through a load of glass on the way to the Ribble last week, it was very early and I only saw it at the last second and failed to avoid it. The tyres are puncture preventers but when I got home it was going flat. I thought it was a thorn that had popped in and out again, so when I ran my fingertips through the inside I was surprised that I didn’t find anything. That is never good when you have a puncture, so I sandpapered the inside so as to flatten any lingering points, put the wheel back on and in the morning it was still solid.
I was a bit pissed off when I got to the allotment to pick up my gear for a spot of lure fishing on the canal to find the tyre going flat again. As a precaution I brought a spare tube with me and I sat in the shed to fix it. Could I find the entry point, could I bollocks, exactly the same position obviously but nothing to be felt or seen. I was at the point of giving up when I stretched the tyre and found the tiniest of fissures, in it was a diamond shaped piece of glass, out you come you little bastard!
Got to the canal and started fishing, I am new to this type of angling so I wasn’t sure what to do. But I am a fisherman so lets have a go. Half an hour in the rod bends double and I’m into a pike. In my haste to film the event the fish gets wind of it’s imminent netting and jumps out of the water like a pint-sized marlin…and I got it on video!
5 January 2020
Got the propagators cleaned and ready for seed planting, still a bit early but in a couple of weeks it begins at a pace. Off to the allotment this morning, not to do anything as such just a tidy up of the shed and a clean of the fishing tackle. Normally, on a Sunday, it would be Pilates but I feel it is a bit of a drawn out affair, over half a day by the time we get back for an hours stretching, so I’m going perch fishing on the ‘Lancy’ instead, much better. Probably going to join Penwortham leisure in a few weeks, we’ll see.
4 January 2020
Not a long walk yesterday but a good day out. Got into Garstang about half ten and had a look around, nice little town, scrounged a few maps from a helpful chap in the tourist information and set off. These places are coming along, like Preston they are tidying up well, money being spent on them. The River Wyre runs through the town and is a game river. The canal is well-regarded as a prime spot for bream and good roach bags, might go for a session in summer, although there are plenty of good areas within cycle distance of Preston.
Watched a good film when we got back, a Lowry biopic starring the brilliant Timothy Spall, he is getting typecast as artists following his superb interpretation of the genius in Mr Turner, wonder which one he will do next…I bet he would be great as Barbara Hepworth.
3 January 2020
About ten miles north of Preston is a pleasant village called Garstang. It is on the fringe of the Bowland fells with Lancaster a short distance further north. The Lancashire coastal way is to the west leading to Morecambe bay and the sublime Lake District peninsular. When the Norse peoples arrived they liked it better than the Lake District – they could grow crops here – so they stayed. A short bus ride gets us there from our village (9 quid return between us) so we are going walking today. I have done a bit around the area in previous years but I want to go a good bit slower now, see more, experience the landscape, listen.
2 January 2020
Three football matches watched yesterday in the year that sounds like science fiction. Editing done in the morning, puncture fixed on the bike, gladioli bulbs cleaned and put away, bit of yoga practised, guitar scales done…and no work! so sit down and enjoy it…I did. Well apart from Man Utd getting spanked by a rejuvenated Arsenal, better keep an eye on Michel Arteta he has been given a good apprenticeship.
Going for coffee in the village this morning and to pick up some provisions, might take a couple of snaps of the new bars/eateries that have opened. Another match tonight Liverpool V Sheffield Utd.
1 January 2020
We came second at bridge. Now this is a very good achievement indeed because it has required a high level of application, in addition to a healthy dose of not giving up. Big pats on backs. New year then, well, more of the same really, decided I probably won’t join another gym, it sounds wrong to say that I am fit and strong enough (health is from lifestyle and diet) but I am. It is enough to maintain this by everything I do, and I can now do yoga decently at home, so why would I go?
Footy today, some good matches but the emphasis has changed. Liverpool are maybe too far ahead to be caught – and they look daunting – just like City were last year. So the interest is now on the other top three places and relegation. And all the matches are on live so the choice could not be better.
Michael Leo Parker 