Emergency fish

The home office can sometimes function like the Bat Cave and this morning when the phone rang it was a case of drop everything, jump in the Batmobile and get over to Wales with Pikey Mark for a spot of fishing on the River Usk. Mark rang to say the conditions were perfect (overcast and muggy) and he had a point. I had a pile of work to get through, but nothing that couldn't be put on hold in an emergency such as this. Yes, there are compensations for being time rich and cash poor.

Mark has a trout rod (by that I mean the right to fish for trout) in an old club with a fascinating history. Back in the 19th century a group of eight anglers, mostly lawyers, had the opportunity to buy the salmon, sea trout and brown trout fishing rights in perpetuity to a stretch of the Usk for 100 guineas each. They drew up a set of rules that do not allow any rod to be sold on for more than the original investment. This means the rods tend to get passed down through families. It just so happens that the man who runs the bakery in Mark's village has one of the salmon rods. So Mark now has his feet under the table, so to speak, with his trout membership. Of course, he dreams of one day acquiring a salmon rod.

The trout fishing was good (that's me in the blip) and I brought some home to eat. But I'm so late home it's a back blip.