Fly fishing

Tried my hand at fly fishing yesterday. I was using a rod I had found discarded with a broken ferrel. I managed to find a suitable piece of brass which I planed down on the metal lathe at work. I used a borrowed reel and flies. I had several takes but no fish were actually caught - I loved the simplicity of the gear used and the mimicing of a natural event - notably the hatching out of mayflies on the Wensum.

Stingray in blueray

We went to a friends' house last night to watch a DVD on their new 50inch screen and blueray. We saw The Golden Compass. The experience was awesome - just like being back in the cinema. It would be nice to watch Troy and Marina on their TV so we can say we saw Stingray on Blueray!

Pain in the neck

I attended my second bee-keeping course on Tuesday and was wearing my veil correctly. We were opening a hive of bees which got rather agitated and one of the bees found it was able to sting me through the veil on my neck. Whilst removing my outergarments I discovered another bee hidden in the fold of my sweatshirt which also stung me on the neck. I didn't realise until I got home and looked in the mirror that the sting and poison sac were still sticking out of my neck! My neck has swollen a little today and I appear to have a goitre!

Taking over

I have made good inroads into the garden again today and have also started to take over the garden next door as well. I planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and beans today. I also finished my book 'A thousand splendid suns' and would thoroughly recommend it - but not if you want a cheerful light-hearted read.

I can now play 'when the saints come marching in' as well as the theme from Eastenders on the low whistle - wow!

We came second in the church quiz this evening. We were in first place until this silly round where we had to second guess a TV audiences responses to certain questions, which scuppered our chances. Second is good I suppose!

Taking the veil

I am reading the follow up to The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini called A Thousand Splendid Suns. The two lead female characters are told to wear the veil or Burqa. It is evidently difficult to see when wearing this garment as your feet and peripheral vision are affected.

Last night I went on the first of my eight week practical bee keeping course where we had to wear a veil for a very different reason. One cultural and the other functional.

Purpose

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. This is one of the mission statements we have up at my workplace. Surely the purpose of life is to find out what its all about. If that's the case then I might be on the right road. I can't pretend to have found any answers but at least I think my questions are relevant.

Its been a lovely day. We walked for miles at the coast and saw barn owls and avocets. I even think I found a Richard's pipit but I couldn't get close enough to hear the characteristic 'shreep' which they utter when flushed. This brings to mind a shameful episode on the Isles of Scilly in 1989 when my brother and I found a Richard's pipit on Agnes. Suffice to say that no-one else saw it!

Ticked off

Rosie has acquired some ticks over the last couple of days. These small mites inhabit long grass and wait for some unsuspecting mammal to come along and cling on. They then find a nice soft part of the body - usually aroud the ears - to sink in their mouthparts and start inbibing the animals blood. The best method of removal is to use forceps - or finger nails - I have now removed 8 so I'm getting pretty adept. They must inhabit the long grass at the botoom of the garden and may have originated with foxes or cats - who knows - a bit of a pain and I'm well ticked off!