October 2008

As the days become colder I suddenly realise that I haven’t been fishing as much as I would have liked to!

Well, the summer was hectic – I have been so busy at work that I haven’t managed to notice where the time has gone… And now I keep wondering - did we have summer this year? Even the week’s holiday I had in Mallorca simply disappeared!  I guess I’ve just been infected by the “running” syndrome, a condition that manifests itself by forcing the sufferer to try and fit as many different activities as possible into each and every 24 hour period.

The regular Wandering Angler users already had a chance to read about some of my adventures in Spain, but I can also promise that there are more coming. I told you that during my holiday I felt like a hamster in a wheel – I enjoyed the waters of the Mediterranean, took in the spectacular sights of the Siera de Tramuntana mountains and had a closer look at Spanish architecture… So as the rain comes I will be sitting at my computer making an escape back to Mallorca as I try to portray my experiences from the summer.

At the same time I won’t give up and hope that the sun hasn’t left us completely for this year and I will still manage to fit in a few more fishing sessions under the bright yellow and red trees of autumn.

Can you believe we are already in March; even with an extra day in February there never seems to be enough time to do everything.  It’s like only yesterday we were unwrapping Christmas presents and now we are getting ready for Easter. By 'getting ready' I don't mean buying chocolate eggs as that isn’t popular here.  In stead we will paint real eggs using a variety of traditional means, all of which I hope to capture on camera so if all goes well you should be able to see my weak attempts at creating contemporary pieces of art on a video by the end of March.

February wasn't a quiet month but just as last year, there was no bank time. Looking back I can say that I've been very busy, I guess that's why I didn't find spare time for fishing.  I'm determined not to mention the weather, as the rest of the world already see us Brits as being guilty of 'meteor-holism', but I need to express my disappointment that a month that usually brings nasty blizzards wasn't actually any different to October or November - lots of rain, dark skies and penetrating cold that keeps even the most devoted fishermen indoors.

I managed to get to Sheffield and Derby celebrated Valentine's Day (all be it with myself and my true love on the opposite sides of Europe), spent a weekend in Vilnius and went to see Chris Rea! On the subject of Mr. Rea, I'm really not a fan of his music, but I must admit I was impressed by his ability to play the guitar and even inflicted, on an almost pact house, my rendition of 'Josephine, I'll send you all my love’.  If you have a chance to see him live, my advice - don't miss it! 

I'm not into gardening, and I really hate weeding, planting, raking, watering and all the other paraphernalia connected with this rather irksome pass time. 

That said, not liking the process of creating a beautiful garden doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the effect spring has on the view from my bedroom window.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the first snowdrops, daffodils and tulips that will bring some colour to our boring lives, I am sure the guys in the UK probably already have all of these in full bloom?  As soon as spring is finally here I will grab my rod and disappear, meanwhile I just need to start developing my excuses as to why I can’t prune the trees, cut the lawns or pull out the weeds!

Has anybody noticed how much the nights have pulled out? It was still just about light at 6pm this-evening and I am longing for the warm summer months ahead. Looking at my diary for February, as in January, much of the time looks likely to be spent traveling and so finding time to bring any fish to the bank seems unlikely.

January 2008 was the first month in which I did not make a single fishing trip since February 2007. The weather in Lithuania so far this year has been unseasonable, with the temperature hovering around +2 most days with what seems like endless grey skies and rain.

So my plans to make this winter my first to try ice fishing now seem doomed and finding conventional bank time in the wet gloom that seems to have enveloped the country doesn’t seem very enticing.

I did manage my first trip to the Hill of Crosses in January and have to say it was well worth the 4 hour round trip. The place is awesome and for me it is hard to take in the bravery that the people of Lithuania showed in maintaining the site during the Soviet occupation when the crosses were bulldozed at least three times.

January also saw my regular battle to navigate Britain without using a car. Repeatedly the British government insists that the people of the United Kingdom should use public transport in order to help the environment and yet I am certain few of these well meaning politicians have any real grasp of the realities of everyday life. Let me start by saying that if you want to travel to Derby from Gatwick at Peek times you need to be ready to take out a mortgage and Peterborough to Gatwick off-peek isn’t any better. Now take into to account cancellations and delays and you soon start to realize that you are lucky these days to get a train at all.

How is it that in Lithuania I can travel from A to B with the transport always clean, on time and affordable and yet in the UK I end up spending most of my travel budget purchasing tickets for transport that arrives hours late or not at all, is so full I must stand and costs me more money than a return flight to Corfu?

So onwards into February we go and Spring now is close, just a few more weeks and finally we will be able to go fishing without fear of freezing, getting soaked or blown away so keep smiling.