I remembered!

Fishing

It was getting on for 1:30 this afternoon when I set off to the valley, this time fully equipped with my worms and a few cockles from the batch I have lined up for a paella tonight.
My aim to try and get the mummy or daddy perch that resides in the lake or, as the carp are not as active, and as it turned out, nor the the thousands of tiny rudd that decimate any bait before it hits the deck, maybe see if there are any big roach or rudd.
I fished today with the 440a again, and and this time my built cane with a split cane top Milbro Maestro.
First cast with a worm and straight away, a bite and nice roach. This continued for the 2 hours I was fishing interspersed with rudd, two carp and finally a perch.
None of the fish were of any size,  the carp were probably in the five or six pound bracket, all on worm.
All good fun and a nice way to enjoy a late afternoon autumn session which was warmer than yesterday, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction.

I've decided that I don't like the action of the two cane rods used over the two sessions, so they will probably go on ebay maybe with the 440a,when people have their Christmas presents to spend.

So home and cooking at about 4:30, and if I say so myself, a very good paella washed down with half a bottle of Ozzie Pinot Grigio..... each.

So much going on!

Fishing

I haven't been since my last trip down to Ware and the River Rib.

Today,after fiddling about getting some bits and pieces sorted, and buying the last bottles of Christmas wine,I decided it was time to get out and fish.
No preparation,worms in the garage on top of the freezer.
Grabbed everything, thinking on the foot,as it were, picked up   some feeder pellets and just in case, a can of sweetcorn. 
Drove down to the valley with some lures, a handful of rods, well four, and 3 reels.
Slipped and slid all the way down the farm track, it's certainly damp down there, and arrived at the pond which was half covered, downwind, with thin ice.Water very clear.
I decided to try out lure fishing to see if I could interest the big perch resident there. No interest.
So I picked out one of my cane rods, the Aspindales Aero and matched it with my Mitchell 440a filled with Maxima, straight through to a porcupine quill,laying on to a size10.



F***, where are the worms? Must be in the car,f***, how the f*** did I forget them?
They were still in the garage on the freezer!

Quick think, ah plastics? Nope, not in the bag!
I'll have to be sweetcorn, not going home now I'm down here.
So sweetcorn it was, and I sat for about two and a half hours until dusk, had a couple of knocks, probably carp as I could see them moving about,the only thing giving me hope as they passed by the line, giving the float that teasing movement of a "bite".
Oh well, I'll have a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon for the perch and be very careful when loading the motor up that the big white bucket, goes in!
A couple of fishing invitations to take up around the Nene and Ouse, and the Upper Witham chub are calling. 
Which reminds me, keep an eye out for the unsold, "out of date" half stilton slabs on the clearance shelf in Tesco.

Little Bruv

Pete's home as I think I said, he been back to the hospital for further checks and been given the Ok. He's signed off,no drugs but, he's back to work on the 23rd!!!
His daughter Lauren, has nagged him into getting a kitten.She's got him twisted around her little finger.

Freezer Stocked

We've got our lamb, bred, born and fattened up in the field next door, a bit over 13 kilo's of prime English lamb slaughtered and butchered by the local craftsmen.
We've had our first tasters, and I have to say, not a hint of mint, so, poking our crop through the fence didn't make the slightest difference. (No, we didn't really).
The farmer has been let down on her orders of this years 16 lambs by 3 or 4 people, so we bought another one, and now have 30 kilo in the garage freezer. Should last us a little while.

Doesn't time fly?

This Christmas will be our 3rd since my Mum died 11th December 2011, and our 9th since Dad died in January 2004. 

I've been thinking about them a lot recently,what with Pete's problems, his partner Dawn and my Auntie Maggie passing all too recently, it sort of puts life into perspective a bit!

Still, we go on,and live each day as if it could be our last.
Both our thoughts, are that we do what we can,while we can.
So time to book more long haul holidays!
Canada in September,so a big gap to fill in between now and then.

Another holiday!!

4am Monday 25th November

First frost of the autumn up here.
At 4:30 we are on our way, after scraping a solid ice windscreen for the 6:20am flight to Schiphol and our onward journey to Boston Massachusetts.
Our initial problem should have been, given some forethought by us, unnecessary, we were put on standby!
So a fretful hour of wondering why I "didn't book our seats, after all it was Monday morning and the flights are effectively commuter journeys for those working in Holland".
Ah, the joys of hindsight!
We got on, and even sat together for the 40 minute flight.
13 hours later were were in our top floor room(1579) at the Boston Park Plaza.
Very nice too!

Sunset from 1579 through the glass, snow on the way overnight!

After gathering ourselves and unpacking we decided for a walk around just to get our bearings and find somewhere to have our evening meals.
We found a good few restaurants with easy walking from the hotel, but after some discussion decided we were better off, after this long day, to eat in the hotel.
As it turned out, for me the best clam and pasta meal I had over the few days, for Pauline much to my surprise, a burger, which she didn't enjoy...I knew she wouldn't!
The next two evenings were spent in restaurants just around the corner.
The first a fish restaurant, called Legal Sea Foods, which was alright, and as can be expected form a chain restaurant.
The next evening a very good Italian called Maggiono's, a big restaurant, with food so good we tried to book the next evening (Thanksgiving), but they had been taking bookings since October last year and were fully booked with 900 covers!
In the meantime we took the obligatory site seeing tour on the Trolley, an hour long trip with a good guide driver, but it was peeing down all day, so we didn't get off at the "highlight" spots, still very good, and I learned something new. The tea tipped in the harbour was 4 years old...no wonder they rebelled.
We had a wander around the markets, Quincy, Faneuil etc. None of which were traditional markets as we know them, but commercial shops and mall restaurants.
Our Thanksgiving dinner was to be at the Hard Rock Cafe, following a recommendation from a fellow guest at the Park Plaza.
As it turned out, they were making a half hearted effort with a turkey mash and cranberry sauce dinner, squeezed in with the standard menu. I really wanted an authentic turkey dinner
We abandoned our seats and crossed the road to a small hotel restaurant North 26. Which although "fully booked" found us a table for two.
Excellent staff and excellent food, I was even given a "secret" recipe for a very good bloody Mary by the cocktail mixer, after Pauline asked jokingly for the recipe. Unusual ingredients but one to experiment with.
I must admit if I'm having turkey, I would much rather have roast spuds and brussel sprouts. Mash and pumpkin didn't quite do it for me!
We liked Boston, a small city with plenty going on, our 4 nights were well worth the time taken to get there and back.

Little brother Pete

We kept in touch.
As of yesterday, he is still in Queens Romford and champing at the bit to get out.
Thankfully he seems to be recovering well, he tells me he has no after affects, so it's looking good.
I shall be seeing him on Friday, on my way back from another session with the International Drinking Society in the big smoke.

No, I've not been fishing

More pressing things to deal with unfortunately.

Brother Pete, the youngest of us at 55, was visiting Southend hospital early last week, after being directed by his doctor to attend following a few days of continuous headaches and high blood pressure.

Fortunately brother Bill's wife, Denise was with him and noticed he was dribbling and he didn't know he was, so she called for the young female doctor. 

in the pink!

She asked a few questions, and very soon had him straight in for an emergency scan, they found a brain aneurysm.Effectively a brain bleed!
He was operated on within 24 hours after being taken to the specialist unit at Romford Queens.

The treatment was what is called

Endovascular coiling

Endovascular coiling is also usually carried out using general anaesthetic. The procedure involves inserting a thin tube called a catheter into an artery in your leg or groin. The tube is guided through the network of blood vessels into your head and finally into the aneurysm.

Tiny platinum coils are then passed through the tube into the aneurysm. Once the aneurysm is full of coils, blood cannot enter it. This means the aneurysm is sealed off from the main artery, which prevents it from growing or rupturing.

He apparently had 5 of these introduced via his groin and 'phoned me within an hour of coming to!!
Right place right time, the NHS at it's best!

He sounded ok but drowsy.

They have still got him under observation, after he was shown to be dragging a leg and his blood pressure needs to come down.

We've spoken a couple of times and I'm happy,as he gets lots of visitors, to save my visit for a week or so.Not a great deal I can do at present and I'm happy with the care he's getting.

My regular readers will recall, Pete's wife Dawn died a few months ago. I know he hasn't recovered from that, and has immersed  himself into work. 

He's not taken any bereavement therapy. So who knows what pressure he was putting on himself?

We're off to Boston (Mass) tomorrow for a few days,so on our return we'll try and persuade him to let us bring him up here for some rehab.... and quiet chats, maybe by the farmers pond.... if allowed!