New new new…

I don’t suppose anyones noticed I haven’t been on here for sometime?

Figures.

I’ve moved house you see. I don’t know how many of you reading this have ever moved house (I mean yourself, not as a child trailing in the wake of your parents) but my god is it a pain in the a-hole.

You have to pre-plan everything. Now I’ve moved a few times and so I’m getting fairly good at it, but for those contemplating moving or perhaps half way through… I feel for you.

One of the things that is necessary but a complete mind fook is the forwarding of mail. You could do this the easy way and simply forward everything at the post office but that would require pre-pre-planning as far as I’m concerned. I did attempt the whole mail forwarding thing but you have to instruct your mail service a few weeks ahead of your actual move. I did not do this and worked out that by the time I had actually set it up and it had come into effect, I would have moved some considerable time ago. No real point then I guess.

Alas, because of my lack of pre-pre-planning I am now having to contact each utility company individually, in a hurry, to change everything over to my new address. I would have had to do this anyway but I would have had much more time to do it. Oh well.

Anyway, congrats if you’re still with me and reading this. Your ability to persevere with inane rubbish is something to be cherished and I applaud you.

So what have I been up to besides moving house and waiting for my internet connection to be ‘connected’? Quite a lot actually, but by far the most interesting is…. fishing!

I can now actually call myself a fisherman. This is because I have my own rod and have actually been. Unlike my nosey neighbour, who claims he is also a fisherman. This he puts down to knowing where a couple of the best local fishing spots are, yet I know for a fact he doesn’t even have a rod. He’s a wannabe. If you read this Brian… go get a rod, until then you can stop asking me ridiculous questions about what bait tactics I use and what the biggest fish I have ever landed is. These are secrets, Brian, known only to real fisherman.

But I digress.

Fishing is great sport. It costs a little to start-up though. You could buy one of those ‘Complete fishing set for beginners’ off of eBay if you wanted but I’d be careful – for two reasons.

1) I guarantee you it won’t have everything you need. You’ll tool up at your local lake, slot your new rod together, pop some bait on a hook and be fishing in no time sure but… then you’ll start looking around. You’ll notice that all the other guys have a nice comfy chair. Not only that but they are wearing nice and warm camouflaged jackets. They are sipping tea from an expensive looking flask which they occasionally set down upon their monster sized tackle box. But wait… what’s this? That bloke has two rods on the go! Yup, that guy is doing two different types of fishing and therefore maximizing his chances. You look down again at your sad lonely rod, shivering and hoping from foot to foot. If only you had a chair.

2) I doubt you would but… who would buy something which had the word ‘beginner’ in it? You’re not a beginner, you’re a man and fishing will doubtless come as natural to you as lighting a fire, building a house, or protecting women folk from danger.

Nah, if I were starting out fishing again I would pop on down to a lake first and have a chat with a few of the regular ‘masters’. This is not asking for help. The wise one’s will be gratified that you respect their knowledge of such things and embrace you as a brother.

It really is a great day out though. Even of you don’t catch anything it gets you outdoors in the fresh air, away from busy roads, hustle bustle, the blur of the tele or the white noise of the wife. I love it.

Don’t think it’s not tiring though! The first couple of times I went I came home, every time, exhausted. Probably because you’re up every five minutes checking your kit and line, or just maybe trying to look like you know what you’re doing, which of course you do because you’re a man.

Anyway, I have bleated on about nothing in particular for too long now and must go and do something constructive.

Bye for now and… Tight Lines!

M 🙂

Author: Mark S Thompson

Okay, so these things are kind of hit and miss. If you’re reading this then I am thankful to you for taking the time out of your day to do so. I’ll be honest, when I think of myself as a writer, I kinda cringe. Don’t get me wrong, it is the dream, it's​ just I never really believe it will go anywhere. When I think back to the day that I first knew I loved writing, and I mean really knew, I see myself sitting in an English lesson at secondary school. The school was called Wrotham and is in the county of Kent, England. As far as I know, it's still there. English was far and away my favourite subject. The best bit was when the teacher gave the class a selection of words and asked us to make up a story that either contained those words or was about those words, you know. At other times we would be given the first sentence and then write what happens next. Good times. Many times my work would reflect what I had recently read and it would be okay. Nothing special, just okay. On one occasion though I wrote about a merman called Finchy and can remember going into so much depth and detail about him and the underwater kingdom he lived in. I really enjoyed writing that and it must have shown because my teacher commented on it. She was really impressed and loved the story. That was it for me, my moment. Now when I write I think back to those great times and to that story. Hopefully, I’ll write something that you, the reader, will be moved to comment on. For me, there is no greater elixir View all posts by Mark S Thompson