Come on then, how are you all doing?

Yesterday I turned 48, and whilst I don’t feel remotely mature enough to be far nearer to 50 than 40, the unavoidable fact is that we get older and there ain’t no point worrying about it. I did have an epic day though - my folks who I haven’t seen since October drove four hours from where they live to come and stay with us for the weekend. We had a lovely walk with them and a bunch of friends on Sunday morning before heading off to a really nice local pub for lunch together. My in-laws who I haven’t seen for more than a year drove down from where they live on the Isle of Wight for a cup of tea and cake which my two girls made for me, and then my two brothers and their families who I haven’t seen since last summer made a surprise visit from London and Wiltshire respectively. A load of us then went to the cinema last night to finish off a great 48th birthday……………….

Okay, so most of the above obviously didn’t happen yesterday. I did turn 48 though, my girls did make me the most delicious birthday cake, and I did have a fantastic day. I obviously didn’t get to see my folks or brothers or in-laws, but I did get to spend the day with my wife and two girls who are frigging awesome and who I love more than life itself. We would love to see our families but it’s not an option right now, and especially as our families all live four hours+ away from us anyway. But the four of us are together as a family, we are safe, we live in a fantastic part of the world, and it’s very easy to go for a walk around here and not have to spend the whole time trying to avoid crowds of other people. We have nothing to complain about save for the fact that we are all living through the strangest times imaginable.

So come on then, how are you all doing out there? A hell of a lot of you kindly read this blog of mine, and whilst I feel like I know you all, in reality I only personally know a few of you. This is an online thing and I am never going to get the chance to ever come across a lot of you out there in the real world, especially not right now with the world how it is. I do feel though as though we are part of something here. I kinda need to write this blog because I need to offload the fishing contents of my head or else I might go loopy with how much I think about all things fishing, but I also really enjoy communicating about fishing. In some inconsequential way I also feel rather proud that I might be able to help or inform a few of you. I don’t do cynicism in fishing because there is quite enough of it in the world already, andif you are so inclined I would love it if you could communicate to me how you are doing in the comments section below.

It doesn’t matter where we might live, what we might do for work, or where we might be on our angling trajectories and so on. We are in the midst of unprecedented times, we are all in this together, and here in the UK people like me who don’t work in anything remotely beneficial to society are so in the debt of so many incredible people right now that it’s somewhat daunting. How much of a flying f&^% could you give about celebrity culture and banking and hedge funds and swanky hotels right now when there are so many people on the frontline of this shitshow who will never get the thanks and time off and support that they so deserve? I am not qualified to understand all the long-term ramifications of this global pandemic, but I do believe we will get back to what we classed as normal one day. Never again will I take for granted something like driving to Heathrow, popping a sleeping pill and flying overnight to South Africa, doing a quick, four day fishing photo job, fly back to the UK, drive back home, and carry on with life almost like I hadn’t just travelled somewhere so far and so special. Hell, never again will I take for granted giving my folks a hug.

How good is it going to feel to catch up with friends and family and not have to deliberately stay a specific distance away? How exciting is it going to feel when I next approach Fishguard in west Wales and see the ferry waiting there to head over to Ireland? In some respects I feel very selfish to even be thinking about stuff like this when things are so bad right now, but if we lose hope I don’t know where we go next. I got to celebrate my birthday yesterday with my wife and two girls in a big house with plenty of space and I have absolutely nothing to complain about. My dad has just come through yet another cancer operation because the NHS is so bloody amazing and he said he could not believe how kind and lovely all the people who got him through it were at times like these. The fact that England played what I thought was the worst game of rugby at the weekend since we won the World Cup back in 2003 actually means squat right now, because as much as sport might be used as a boost to us all right now, I have got my family around me and I cling to the hope that we come through this shitshow as unscathed as possible. If a few people want to be unpleasant to me or about me online then that’s just fine because it really means absolutely nothing. It meant nothing before this shitshow, and it means even less now. I say again that we are in together, and I am so looking forward to seeing some of you kind people out on the rocks or beaches in the near future. Please stay safe and well and feel free to share a bit of yourself in the comments section below if you are so inclined.