Steve Walker

In principle this bothers me. In practice, in the case of these animals, I find it hard to care. Not our problem.

I think the LGB would generally split between the two, the T would also be in or out depending on what they are now rather than what they were born as. The QIA - yeah, they will have to go write their own sodding poem.

I like "If". I like the Maya Angelou poem too. It occurs to me, though, that "Still I Rise" is about being the black descendant of slaves in America. Angelou had a horrific early life. She was born in 1928 in Missouri. She lived through the civil rights years. She suffered a great deal of personal hardship. I'm slightly amused by the idea of relatively privileged students growing up in a relatively liberal country feeling that it speaks for them. "If" is more universal, though it may reasonably be pointed out that it is addressed directly to only half of humanity. I think it was chosen simply because it would cause maximum gammon-fury, to be a provocation, rather than because they had thought about what would be most appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EfW9znJYjw

Can it tweet?

If you're being sprayed with superheated water, the actual pressure is probably academic!

Dave, I had two flies on, a little shrimp pattern and the one I caught the flounder on. I'm not sure which one I briefly hooked a mullet on, though. These fish do not seem at all spooky - could be that I am well hidden against the banks with the sun below the horizon. I think I will have another go this evening, but I fear the evening low tide is now a little too late to fish.

The point is that if you confine the liquid it will be at above its boiling point at ambient pressure when the confinement is released. I don't think the kettle breached, I think the bung blew and the superheated water inside immediately boiled and sprayed out over the kids.

The French do like to set fire to things when they're upset.

Phone, I think you have Mugil cephalus, and possibly some others. We have Chelon labrosus, Chelon ramada and Chelon auratus. That's your flathead or striped mullet and our thick lipped, thin lipped and golden grey. So, no, I don't think we have the same species, but the weird thing is that the same species we have here are hugely easier to catch in other parts of Europe. I caught them by the dozen on childhood holidays to the Mediterranean, which was as you say, a blast, yet those here are like ghosts. Very strange.

He had two safes, an alarm system, a CCTV system with about 8 cameras hooked up to a DVR box, multiple bolts on the doors. There's a downstairs window which is hidden from view and the obvious place to break in, that's the one with a locked grille on it. Wonder if he knew something about the area I don't? Mind you, his brother in law is an ex-copper, so maybe he scared him. The problem with having that view is that at the moment I can see the mullet every low tide, I have had four goes at them now and about as many bites and no fish! They're driving me insane.

Oi, I may be a shortarse, but those railings on the balcony are waist height! There is actually a window downstairs with bars on it, or rather a grille. I think the last owner was a bit paranoid about security!

I have this view from my sofa. For the last few days, I have been able to see mullet cavorting in the river on the evening low tides. As you can imagine, this is somewhat distracting. I tried fishing for them with bread - didn't seem interested. So last night I wandered down there with the fly rod. I did manage to connect to one, briefly. I think it was a mullet, anyway, it didn't feel very big but it was damned quick. Other than that, all I got was this; If they're there again tonight, I expect I will be unable to resist. Mullet are bad for one's sanity.

We like our plastic clothes. I have loads of them. If you had asked me whether they were made of plastic I would have thought about it for a second and said of course they are. But it didnt occur to me that they were made of plastic and shedding down the drain. Because everyone was talking about drinking straws and carrier bags. Meanwhile the high street is selling more and more and cheaper and cheaper plastic clothing.

You mean the one with the tough guys and the oval ball? Or the one with the helmets and pads?

Yep! But most people don't even think of their clothes as being made of plastic.

Is there some football being played then?

Guess what the single biggest source of ocean microplastics is?

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Oh definitely. And there are always a few mug fish!

True, but I think it's likely that roach can be just as discerning. These were small rudd, four or five inches, turning their noses up at a caster on a 22 and 12oz bottom... Sometimes, they're just too tricksy.

Martin, I have watched rudd ignore a single caster with a hook in it and no shot down the line while eating all the loose feed! John, in my experience loose feeding can often bring fish up in the water. I used to rely on it, generally fishing on the drop and loose feeding little and very often to create a competitive environment. Heavy groundbait and/or feeding larger amounts less frequently so that it doesn't all get eaten as it sinks can get a carpet of bait on the bottom which will take them down in the water.

I was clipped up, John. I wasn't needing to let line out to form a bow, the movement of the feeder downstream was allowing it to form naturally. That probably gave me less accuracy than doing it explicitly but it was landing in the same spot and then moving downstream until it reached the right balance point, so probably ending up in more or less the same spot. I think it's probably a matter of trial and error, balancing weight against flow, and it's probably harder to do when the flow is greater - this was the Thames in summer, so slow and steady. Having said that, I have used the same technique many years ago for chub and barbel on the middle Severn where the water was four feet deep and very fast and the feeder was a big Drennan blockend.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_liquid_expanding_vapor_explosion

That's exactly what I thought!