The great news today is that my bed does not loath me. I am not certain about the source of the shoulder pain still, but the problem with my neck is Cricket Ache caused by falling asleep in front of the telly whilst watching the Test Match and not being able to keep some wakefulness. At least I was able to see the end of the match. It will not be happening again, I am very much a Test match follower and will not be bothering to sit up for the limited over cricket. Besides, this being a Friday, in future weeks I’ll be trying to get an early start at work so that I can nick off in the afternoon to go angling.

What with my wife going back to work following a long sick leave due to breast cancer treatment since April in a couple of weeks, and the prospect of the weather turning milder through February and March, the temptation of the canal towpath will probably be overpowering now that I have made the decision to update the fishing tackle and resume fishing again.

When I was checking through my fishing tackle recently, I found an old rod licence which was dated 1994, which most likely was the last occasion I went fishing. It appears a very long time and yet I remember it clearly, a sunny day in June when I went for a day’s angling on the Thames at Walton, and I landed my only ever barbel. This may seem peculiar, but most of the angling I did as a boy was on a little lake in the town where I grew up, and barbel are a river fish.

Then, I didn’t have a much fishing tackle as I never had plenty of money and yet I still have most of it from those days. I find it astonishing that even when I did earn a lot of money, I never really thought about angling or spending some money and getting some really top fishing tackle and using up more time by the water.

When I do resume, I will need to spend some change\money, initially getting a rod licence and becoming a member of the Birmingham Anglers Association who control angling on the canals in the area here, then I will need some fresh fishing tackle as mine is ancient and probably outlawed now, especially the hooks which all appear to have barbs which I’m almost sure aren’t permitted now.

I can’t wait to go back, though I’m not humiliated to say that I was always and definitely will be now, a very fair weather fisherman, so I will need dry, warm conditions. It doesn’t have to be sunny, just not wet and cold and if it is a Friday after my wife has gone back to work (and I’m legal) then the likelihood is I am going to go fishing. Excellent.

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