Life Eh?

I have been pondering a deep philosophical question over the last few days, namely, how can I write a fishing blog without actually going fishing? I have been reminded recently of the people who used to say to me that now that they had retired they don’t know how they had time to go to work. I didn’t understand it at the time but it is beginning to dawn on me that it is true, well at least part of the time.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I got a phone call in the afternoon to say that my ninety three year old diabetic mum had had a fall and the ambulance had been called. She lives in a warden controlled block and had friends with her at the time so was lucky in that respect but she was in pain and could not move off the floor so I drove over to be with her. To cut a long story short she waited five hours for an ambulance and was eventually taken to hospital with a suspected broken hip. This turned out to be the case and only a couple of days later she was operated on and it was put back together. There was no visiting due to Covid so we had a difficult time phoning and trying to find out how she was but fortunately she is old school and wouldn’t let a thing like a broken hip upset her and she is doing well. She could have been discharged earlier this week but she has to wait for a care package to be put into place first so until that happens she is taking up a bed that an ill person needs. Fortunately she is going to my sister’s when she comes out of hospital so will be properly looked after and we will decide about her future after that.

What she didn’t mention to us was that a couple of days before all this happened she had a leak from the cistern in her airing cupboard which was dripping through to the floor below and although a local plumber came out late at night and fixed it all her towels, carpets etc were soaked. She blames tiredness and anxiety for misjudging her step and falling over, which may be right. Anyway, my sister and I cleared up the mess and also gave her flat a thorough cleaning at the same time. So, I have spent several days driving from one side of the county to another and we are not finished yet.

Then there is the missus. I have mentioned that she has poor health and that I look after her, well at the same time all this was going on I was taking her for a blood test, hospital appointment, dental appointment, optician’s appointment, dentists appointment, which left me no time to go fishing. On top of this I was changing a couple of taps in my house and turning off a gate valve in the attic the handle just kept spinning round and it started to leak so it had a big tin tray under it for the night until the shops were open again in the morning. And there is my sister, how many people do you know that have hit a deer and written off their car twice? In eighteen months? Thought not. She has. So, I have been helping her sort that out and expect that I will be driving her around the garages to find a replacement when the insurance comes through.

Fishing? Well, I have noticed that the days are getting shorter and the leaves are falling off the trees. I am thinking of going back to the river and looking for weed free places to fish in the hope of catching some nice roach, chub and perch. Perhaps I will have a go at pike fishing on the canal as I have never caught a pike and would like to catch at least one on my life time! To be honest I don’t know when my next session will be and whether my next blog entry will be an angling one or another chapter in the soap opera!