Blame Wordbender for what I am about to inflict.

[Peter Waller]

Rustam Bana:

As for you, O Bent One,

 

P.S.: Have you fitted those steam and massage jets to your portable shower yet? Peter Waller, kindly take note.    

Perhaps there should have been an 'ld' between the O and the Bent!

 

O Bent One, classic, thanks for that one.

 

Re the portable power shower and massager, where does he put it all? The fan assisted bidet, complete with long fingernails, caused a considerable drain on his system. When turned on it reduced the power to his self lifting bivvy bed to a mere trickle, causing him to miss a bite.

[Wordbender]

Latest recruit to my minimalist fishing gear, is a laptop, plus inverter so I can re-charge it from my 12-volt powerpack or car.

 

This traditional addition allows me to edit or write articles during those sparse moments between sampling fine wines, enjoying glorious meals, birdwatching, my botany studies, stimulating, inter-chum banter, sleeping, and doing battle with a fish or two.

 

Never a dull moment in my swim.

[Peter Waller]

Or playing 'FishSim 2', ideal for the days between bites.

 

Always thought 'stimulating' and 'birdwatching' were one and the same thing.

 

[ 03. July 2005, 06:00 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[Wordbender]

Peter Waller:

Or playing 'FishSim 2', ideal for the days between bites.

Don't do 'puter games. 'Ates 'em, I do.

 

For the record - which I now keep aboard my new laptop, natch - my last 24-hour session yielded a 21.9 linear, a 19.5 fully-scaled, three huge bream, a 9lb.'ish tench, four edited articles and the beginning of a rather interesting piece on the amount of equipment we carpers take fishing with us.

 

Quite a productive trip, I trust you agree.

 

See, a laptop's a win-win, innit? No fish = more writing time = more production = reduction in workload = more time to go fishing. Yaaaaaay!

[Peter Waller]

But is it really angling? Serious question this. Working, whilst waiting to be summonsed by a bite alarm, is, well, not my idea of angling. There is a time and a place for everything, don't you think?

 

When I works I works, and thinks about angling, and when I angles I angles, and don't think about work.

[Wordbender]

Peter Waller:

But is it really angling? Serious question this. Working, whilst waiting to be summonsed by a bite alarm, is, well, not my idea of angling. There is a time and a place for everything, don't you think?

Angling and writing are two of the things I love most in life, alongside the study of nature, the company of my friends and family, good food and drink and the freedom to enjoy them all on my own terms.

 

When I go angling, I build my own little world around me, selecting only those people and pursuits that I want in my world. Angling is the means of my escape, and sometimes it occupies my every moment.

 

At other times, I populate my little world with other sources of pleasure. It's my world, my call, and what a privilege it is to be able to run it to nobody's rules but my own.

 

If I'm fishing and I fancy a mooch about with the camera, or a prolonged chat with a mate, or a good old drink, I'll reel in and do what I fancy doing. I'd hate to restrict myself to fishing if I fancied doing something else, see?

 

Is it really angling? Well, it's certainly MY idea of angling, mate, and because it brings me the greatest possible pleasure - that's the only version I intend to keep doing.

[Peter Waller]

As I have said before, angling is all things to all men. Can't argue with any of your stated idyls! Yes, my angling is escapism too! Escaping the work, cooking and the camera, the TV!! Enjoy it, all that matters.

[Wordbender]

Then we are agreed.

 

 

And you were wrong.

 

Don't argue, Peter, it's the natural order of things, my friend.

 

[Peter Waller]

Domesticated fish, domesticated fishing.

 

What, me argue? Never!!

[Wordbender]

But none 'o them-thar eelektronical fish-finders, though.

 

Take that, Sir!