well, this will be a little different. usually, look you see, i do try to be fair to both of the boys whenever i do a post here. in this instance, though, it is all, or if you like just, William. well, balancing things out i suppose. James did have a four year head start as the solo star of this blog, and in any case i suppose James gets plenty of updates for family and friends around the world as and when i do cricket updates.
should i just get on with it? yes, that is probably a quite good idea, rather.
a little while ago we had a particularly warm day. this was an almost perfect one - warm and sunny, but perhaps just a trifle too warm and muggy, for of course we English can never have the perfect day, for we would be bereft of conversation. with it all being as close to perfect as possible, then, William suggested a walk down to the village so that we may enjoy an ice cream. i readily agreed.
this turned out to be a most splendid idea. quite a cracker, or indeed an absolute belter of one. we did not get any cooler on the walk down, and so the ice cream at the end of our journey was all the more pleasant.
whilst purchasing ice creams, William observed or otherwise noted that the famous proprietor of ice creams also sold other items. specifically, fishing nets, priced at a not entirely unreasonable £1 each. no, no value north or south of £1, just £1 flat in this instance. anyway, William requested one, so that we may go and fish. i, mindful of the fact that we have several stuck in the garage after previous such good ideas, said no, not really, we were just there for the ice cream.
but then i spotted one single, solitary and all alone purple fishing net. this i took as a sign from my (considerably) better half, who was not there but quite likes purple, that we should indeed purchase one. and so, much to the delight of William - as is hopefully reflected in these images - we got one.
our relatively brief stroll for a nice ice cream then transformed into an epic quest to master fishing, then. and why not, dear reader, and why not. fishing is quite the noble thing to do, after all, and what better way to spend a sunny if ever so slightly over warm day.
evidently the idea had by William in respect of how fishing works is that one simply casts the net into the waters, and then the fish obediently hop or whatever it is fish do (swim, i suppose) into the net, securing the fisher quite the victory. alas, no, it does not work in such a way. i explained to William that, in terms of his expectations, he would find fish to be most insolent and disobedient, and further that patience was required.
indeed, William has all of the patience one would normally or nominally associate with a child of his age. so, the problem was not being patient or anything, but that the net was stuck in the wrong part of the water. off he went, partially up a tree, then, to cast the net into a body of water he trusted would be home to far more obedient fish.
when he climbed on the tree and laid upon it, i took the above picture and sent it to my (considerably) better half. then, i waited. no knacking or such informing me to be careful came along. this i took as permission for us to continue our voyage into the realm of fishing, and test further dangers in the hope of catching fish.
do any fish swim or make a home in these particular waters? yes. some catfish, i believe. we could even see them swimming around. so, no, this was not done just to humour or amuse him - there was every chance or if you like risk that we may catch one or two. should patience come to the for. well, patience or luck or good fortune.
just where was James as we did all of this? off with his mates, around the village, doing something or other. as he is now approaching his teenage years and probably is such in all but name, me as a parent am probably best off not knowing the specifics of what he is up to; just assuming that, well, i got away with whatever for most of the instances, and trust that he is equally or better behaved.
failure to catch any fish within seconds of the net being submerged in the finest of Yorkshire waters resulted in, as you may well have observed, William concluding that we were stood in entirely the wrong place for his ambitions to work. so we moved around a very great deal indeed.
you may be in something of a rush. if for you the conclusion would be answering the question posed naturally by this, which is did we catch any fish, no. but hopefully you elect to stick around for the rest of my writings and to have a gander at the pictures.
also absent, in person but not spirit of course, from this quest was my (considerably) better half. by no means has she ever been one of them "sun" people, and is loathe or otherwise reticent to be out in it unless absolutely necessary. so this was very much a boys adventure thing.
the importance of that last paragraph came to the fore when William decided that it was remaining quite safely on the bank that was causing his plan not to work. he assured me that if he were allowed to take his shoes and socks off and enter the water then fishing victory would be secured.
now then. on more than one instance, i let you know, an excellent idea involving water has previously seen me required to rescue William from the perils of drowning. so, in truth, i was reluctant to let him engage in this brave new idea. but, then again, it wasn't like i wouldn't jump in and save him, and anyway maybe it was time to see if he had learned from previous such episodes.
permission to enter the water kind of, mostly, saw the noble dream of fishing success come to an end. to walk the entire length of the river, through the middle of the water rather than simply to the side, seemed like the very best thing ever to do. if you have ever done the same or similar, i suspect you will agree.
if you were to ask for how long did William stay in the river, walking, the answer would be until he eventually tired of me asking him to cease doing so. left to his own devices i dare suspect that he would still be off doing it, right now, as either i type or as you read.
upon exiting the water, it was so that William once again decided to have another go at fishing. in fairness, this second or third or fourth attempt saw an increased level of patience. but, not much, and certainly not enough to enjoy success, alas.
feeling rather wet and tired from his exploits, he then had one of his finest ideas for the day. that was to call Mummy, or if you will my (considerably) better half, and ask her to please fetch us in the car rather than have us walk all that way home. we had, in fairness, walked quite some distance by this stage.
so, we did, and indeed she did. and i was able to clean up most of the fishing net and bits of William prior to us getting into the car.
anyway, that's that. and, indeed, what a most splendid and lovely way to spend a sunny afternoon.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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