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Vagabond

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Everything posted by Vagabond

  1. Roger Bannister The first man to officially run the mile in under four minutes "Other men may in the future, run it faster - but nobody else can run it first"
  2. .....and I for one look forward to reading your contributions. Welcome back. and as I type, my eye falls upon the tub containing your auction winnings from the last fish-in - I plan to bring it to the next fish-in - - see you there ?
  3. Very true - fortunately we can keep both car and campervan on the drive for the next few days until the thaw comes. The main hazards are the various groups you mention - it doesn't matter how good a winter rally driver one might be - if some prat has got himself stuck broadside across a narrow road,nothing can get by A big 16-wheel artic was jammed across the road in front of our drive for most of Monday
  4. We had 9" in a couple of hours on Monday 26th, but cloudless after that and the sun has burnt half of it off the open ground. No more snow since but still below freezing and fierce E/NE winds have blown the snow off the trees. Many birds feeding on our scraps, pheasants, jays, other corvids, gulls and about 20 different smaller species.
  5. I've seen hooks (around #2 to # 2/0 ) like that for sale in Texas - designed apparently for "Night Crawlers" (big,BIG lobworms)
  6. First I've heard of it.............Has Trump sacked him?
  7. Woodlarks singing on the heath areas of Ashdown Forest, Songthrush singing in our garden We are keeping the bird-feeders full and our birdbath topped up with hot water during this cold snap. Local ponds still frozen over.
  8. Given that a trained gun-toting policeman elected not to risk his life, can you imagine the average teacher facing a repeating rifle with a hand gun ? Carried to its logical conclusion Trump's thinking will have the schoolkids themselves armed to the teeth Playground squabbles would not last long..........
  9. True enough in the usual sizes, but I am struck with the similarities between my Airflo T7, ( which i use for fly fishing for tarpon, barracuda, permit and similar beasts) and reels such as the Merlin and larger Aerials - when a big fish puts them into "knucklecracker" mode. there is not a lot of difference When the handle(s) become(s) a blur, use the heel of the hand on the rim. A mate of mine, describing a fight with a big trevally said "The second stupidest thing I ever did whilst fishing was to try to slow the fish by putting my thumb on the spool. THE most stupid was, after getting a bad burn, to change hands and then put my other thumb in the same place"
  10. According to the medics, it is all the patients' fault. We eat too much, we drink too much, we smoke too much, we fornicate too much. All these put a strain on the NHS In my case, when I claimed "none of the above" I was told it was still my fault because I have lived too long
  11. Right or wrong I support three organisations and ONLY three, The RNLI because I was brought up in Cromer, and as a child, knew Henry Blogg , who risked his life many times over, to save people from the sea. As a governor, I can keep an eye on how the money is spent I also support the Poppy Day - My service career did not put me in danger, but I am very aware of those of my comrades who suffered death or serious injury - and the strain that puts on their families. I am aware that there may be some jiggery-pokery between my contribution and what proportion actually reaches th recipients, but they deserve every penny. Thirdly, I contribute to any steam locomotive preservation, provided I approve of the project, and know and trust the individuals runnibg it. Alas, my days of providing practical help are over, but at least I can provide cash and encouragement' Why ?.........., because dragons are a myth, and dinosaurs are extinct - these fire-breathing "beasts of man" are the next best things - if dragons existed, I would have been a dragon-rider I ignore all other appeals , the latest money sink seems to be donkeys "thousands of donkeys die every day" true, and thousands of donkeys are born every day.
  12. Absolutely We caught and brought back a load of chinook (King) and coho (silver salmon) from a trip to British Columbia - greatly superior to "Wild Alaskan" (Sockeye aka Red) which is in turn superior to dog (chum) and pink (humpback) salmon. I have also caught my share of Hampshire Avon salmon, and while I can't honestly say there is a marked difference in taste from wild salmon I have caught in Scotland and Ireland, all three are vastly superior to farmed salmon for the reasons Steve stated earlier in this thread. The outfit we went with to BC specialised in trimming, freezing and packing for air travel the thick end of a hundredweight of fish per person - they even held it in cold store until our return flight. Dunno if they are still in business
  13. Thats from Dec 3 last year - I could have added "and all three of the Aussie fast bowlers are faster than any of ours,and Australian wickets do not favour the seam and swing of fast-medium bowlers - ie Anderson and Broad" We have the shorter forms of cricket sorted, but our Test side for Aussie wickets needs rebuilding.
  14. Horse sense : That spark of intelligence present in horses that prevents them betting on people.
  15. We have just found an empty wood-pigeon egg-shell by our front hedge, and on Friday our walk on the Ashdown Forest yielded a woodlark claiming its territory (up in the air like a skylark, returning to a high perch on a birch tree) They usually wait until late February.
  16. Vagabond

    Bots?

    I thought you meant something akin to trolls until I googled the term. (for other computer semi-literates a bot is a robotic device that extracts information from your posts at the speed of electronic gadgets - according to Wiki, "bots" account for 50% of internet traffic, Good bots are simply self-serving - ie gathering info so they can bombard you with ads they think you might respond to, Bad bots are nastier than most of us can imagine) I suppose the answer, John, is "very likely" "Be careful what we post" is the best advice I can think of.
  17. Agreed,although I would think being cooped up for a fortnight on those "cruise liners" so heavily advertised on television could be marginally worse
  18. Ted Malone, aged 99 Author of several books on fly-tying and a fly-tying maestro
  19. We have snowdrop,crocus,cyclamen and hellebore in flower, daffodil buds showing, and hazel catkins have been out for at least a month.
  20. In Bangalore, we saw a bloke riding a bicycle with a woman in (apparently) full bridal costume riding on the crossbar. She was holding a three-tier decorated wedding cake
  21. 10p on each candy bar would be even simpler, and a damned sight more useful. On second thoughts, that wouldn't be enough - make that £5 on each bar.
  22. couldn't agree more
  23. Beware of hybrids ! I used to participate in monthly magazine-feature fish-ins on local commercials, the resultant feature being published locally . The magazine editor was an old fishing friend and it was a pleasant day out for free with easy fishing thrown in., Many of the waters we fished were stiff with roach-bream and roach-rudd hybrids. I had roach-bream to 4 lb, and roach-rudd to 3-12 No pure roach over 1-14. Lots of 2lb "roach" were claimed by others - backed up (of course) by the fishery owners concerned. Over 75 years angling has given me a cynic's view - Identification is simple.for the wannabes, any fish with roach in its ancestry is a "true roach" if you or one of your mates has caught it - or if you own the water concerned. If anyone else has caught it, its a hybrid. It is my lifetime ambition to catch a 2 lb roach, but so far 1-14 (four times) has been my best. My editor mate has passed away, and now I almost never fish commercials unless I am introducing a beginner to angling. I am that convinced of the absence of true roach over 2 lb from such waters that I spend my money on other things.. Clear rivers and large gravel pits are a better bet, the fishing is more difficult, but at least the quarry is probably present. If you still want to go the "commercial" route, then you need to be well clued-up on hybrid recognition, but note it is not always as simple as counting fin-rays and lateral-line scales AN has a few past threads that were useful, but I don't know if they are still accessible. I have one useful paper re hybrid recognition on file A molecular approach to detect hybridization between bream Abramis brama, roach Rutlius rutilus and rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus P. M. W. Wyatt†, C. S. Pitts† and R. K. Butlin*† Anyone sufficiently interested, pm me your email address, and I will send you a copy
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