Well readers its here again , its nearly Christmas and the headlong rush to stuffing our faces with turkey has begun, once again we have spotted a household down the lane that has managed to demonstrate both bad taste and a total lack of respect for the calendar at the same time by having illuminated reindeer on the lawn outside their house in November . Its not that I am a misery as despite what my long suffering wife says I am generally of moderately cheery disposition . But we seem to get our senses bombarded by one event after the other once the nights draw in . Halloween , Bonfire night , Trick or treat . that hideous Black Friday made even worse by the fact that it starts the previous Saturday and finishes more than a week later so its actually black ten days . Next the carol singers will descend in droves. soon two lines of " We wish you a merry Christmas" followed rapidly by a row of outstretched hands . I think this year I will place a humbug in each outstretched mitt. I wonder if grubby teenagers understand irony . Anyway enough of this jollity.
This year I have excelled I have completed my Christmas shopping already to avoid the rush and having to mingle with Christmas shoppers. I have, I think managed to put together a suitable selection of "surprises " for the good lady . by surprises I mean real ones and not the ones that magically arrive in the bottom of my wardrobe that she has carefully selected for me to wrap so she can act all surprised on Christmas day . No I mean real surprises. Of course I am running the risk of that killer of all statements " Oh darling its lovely do you still have the receipt" . But after more than 30 years I am starting to understand her tastes and I reckon I am on a winner. I confess along the way I have made mistakes my gift of a a griddle pan in the early years of marriage still holds painful memories, an experience that I learned much from. This year we have both "discussed not spending as much this year and agreed that we get no surprises for each other " will if she thinks I am falling for that old chestnut she has another think coming.
Its been a pretty grim year fishing wise , the hottest and driest summer for nearly 50 years has seen rivers dry up and runs of migratory fish almost go completely . A high spot was getting into a very small fishing club on a delightful river not far away . Its a small river , delightfully unspoilt and full of wild brownies . The waiting list is around 9 years ( took me a few months short of that ) a duration due in equal parts to the standard of fishing , its annual cost and people who only leave for the saddest of all reasons.
The little club that I am chairman of and supposedly run , well that I pretend to run while the secretary does bloody everything has seen a poor year because of the lack of water but our membership is pretty solid . Interestingly we are noticing a trend from prospective members that are looking for wild fish rather than larger stockies, a definite greater interest in quality over quantity . There is a simple formulae that I think some clubs fail to recognise . Heavy stocking costs money which leads to high subscription costs and that leads to low membership. I think high membership costs also encourage over zealous land agents to ramp up rent prices . I really beleive that some clubs that do not change their model they will run out of customers.
Finally in the last few months we have a couple of new fly fishing magazines , an on the shelf glossy and the other a subscription only job that on first impression appears to very good. Called " fly Culture " its a very good read . It is also a potential present idea for one of my two sons. It may well replace that old and much appreciated classic the Orvis voucher. The fly culture is a good idea . The traditional "how to " or "look at what I`ve caught" column really have run their course . Brand new radical fly patterns that are in fact old classics with a different colour thread really do become rather tedious. The idea of a magazine looking at the culture of fly fishing is a good idea, the challenge I guess will be keeping the writing standard high. I wish the team luck.
Which brings me rather smartly on to the whole point of the post which is to confess that I have felt for some time that this ere blog feels to me rather old aged , I have greatly enjoyed the writing of it. But cant help feeling that its all become a bit flabby and unexciting , A lot like the writer . The blog will continue but will change hopefully for the positive . I will endeavour to serve up more fulfilling dishes however there may be a considerable period between courses . Anyway unless something startling happens between now and Christmas have a bloody good Christmas ,
