Its a beautiful day again, sun has finally replaced the rain, and the last few chilly days are a memory whilst I type here in the sun.

I've found some maggots in my fishing box, they are not left over from a previous trip, they have created themselves. I left a large piece of pork luncheon meat in there and when I just checked it was actually moving, with loads of maggots feeding on it.

Ironic now that I am having some 'time out' from fishing whilst I examine my environmental conscience, that I have started producing my own bait!

I miss fishing actually, not so much the physical act, but just being there, tuning in. Me and the pond are like strangers now, like old lovers forbidden by circumstance, casting longing glances. I've just passed by. The carp are sunbathing on the surface, seducing me, but my rod will be packed down today and brought inside to protect it from the elements.

To compensate for the extra time on my hands I have been playing a lot of guitar, I haven't really practised for years, but I'm putting a few hours in and finding it very rewarding. However, I prefer to play in the van rather than outdoors, and combined with the rainy last few days I've felt a bit isolated. That's the great thing about fishing, just stick the brolly up and carry on.

I could I suppose go and sit on the fishing peg under a brolly and strum the fisherman's blues .

Its Friday, a day for new arrivals. Most of the time I like it when the site has a few new people on it, it changes the atmosphere, and where now for us its taken for granted a little more, its great seeing people camping and really enjoying themselves. The sun is out, and the air will fill up with barbecue and wood smoke by the early evening.

This is our life now. We have pretty much 100% decided we are going live here through the winter, and at least complete a full cycle. We are looking at keeping the van warm, and us entertained. The caravan is a small place on a cold wet day.

Its warm today however. I'm off for a brew and a sit in the sun, some more reflection and contemplation.

Here's a nice tune, rain or shine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws2QzS1GCCE

Paragraphing Issues

Got a problem with paragraphing today for some reason. The inbuilt word processor is acting the goat. Apologies for any readers having to plough through unparagraphed text!

Luke-Ciano Pavarotti

Its been a while since we had any cat updates.

Not much has changed really, our little cat Luke seems to be getting bullied and beat by the other three cats, especially Mutthead, who seemingly delights in tormenting Luke.

Pretty much on a daily basis Luke will square off with one of the cats, and as mentioned in a previous blog, he has taken up some curious form of singing to communicate with the other cats.

It can go on for minutes at a time, and during the day it can quite entertaining. Quite frequently at five o clock in the morning I (and the rest of the site) will be awoken by the strangest of sounds coming from the cats.

I've had a brief google search to see if I could find something similar, this video is pretty close.

Open in a new window

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd4acTWUnQ8&feature=related

Luke is a bit more singy than those guys hence is new nick name Luke-Ciano Pavarotti.

Its all about territories it seems and Luke is still after 3 half months still trying to claim his, it often takes place under our caravan which is being used by the other cats as their toilet.

Apart from that we think Luke is really happy, he even went into the on site shop yesterday. He has only had a couple of successful hunting trips, a mouse and a shrew, oh, in fact, he had a small bird one morning as well. We were greeted by an awning full of feathers and bird intestines.

Cats bring their kills home, apparently to say thanks for being looked after.

It probably goes back to the days when we used to eat small birds and door mice. Its unlikely Luke will return with some garlic infused Olive Oil, so his victims get put into the dustbin and not the pot.

He has his own bed, on a nice fluffy blanket next to the window, overlooking the site, on the lookout for the bullys. He frequently comes home with a scratched face and a bloody nose, and you occasionally find bits of his fur outside from his rough and tumble with the other cats.

Its not all doom and gloom though, Mutthead the ringleaders ears are slowly being whittled away, you can see the change weekly as his ears are being worn down to little stumps from his fights with the other cats.

I'm sure one day another little cat will move on site and Luke's position will be elevated and he'll probably bully the new one as well, what has the cat society come to eh?

As we speak though he is snug in his bed, having a little cat dream, perhaps thinking up some new melodies for his latest piece.

A lovely ditty follows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4guRiNZLGQ&feature=related

Camping Cookbook

Since we moved things around a bit in the awning, I've got really back into cooking.

So, I'm going to start leaving a few recipes on here that i'm cooking up, give them a try in your own kitchen, but these are tasted best in an awning or caravan, good quick food.

GamGam PilPil

This is my version of a very common recipe, it often goes by the name Gamberoni, or Gambas Pil.

It goes like this.

About 3rd of a cup of olive oil, small knob of butter, 2 cloves of garlic, one medium sized red chilli, paprika and of course prawns, normal prawns or King prawns will suffice, I prefer the smaller prawns, less fleshy.

So, heat the oil up and add the butter, season it then add the garlic, chilli, and a healthy sprinkle of Paprika. Give it about five minutes for the flavours infuse then pop the old prawns in. Turn heat onto full and then keep the whole thing moving around the pan for around another five minutes.

It will seem quite oily, but with it being Olive Oil, that's OK.

Get yourself some nice crusty bread, or a French stick, serve contents in a bowl.

Use the oil as a nice dip and eat the prawns, beautiful!

There's quite a few variants on this recipe, try finely chopping some spring onions and giving a good slosh of Soy Sauce to give it more of a Thai flavour.

Simple Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

This is a legendary dish, again with many variations. With us having a limited kitchen, simplicity is best.

Mushrooms, 2 cloves of garlic (less or more to taste) mixed herbs (just oregano will do)Olive Oil and some cream.

Roughly chop your mushrooms and garlic and place in oven dish, pour over some Olive Oil, not too much but a good drizzle, sprinkle on the herbs, (about 3/4 of a teaspoon) and pop in the oven on a medium heat. Give it about 15 minutes, remove from oven, spoon two nice tablespoons of cream in, mix it about and Bob's your uncle, there you have it, Creamy Garlic Mushrooms.

OK, not everyone has an oven when they are camping, but slow cooking on a gas burner will achieve similar results.

Serve the above two dishes with a nice salad and you have the perfect camping supper.

Nb. You can also add a bit of white wine to the mushrooms, but my assistant chef prefers it in a glass with the meal.

Rain, rain, rain, rain

Open this video in a new window, a lovely tale of rain.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2011702824034424150&ei=c3MqStazKdaI-Aayy9G9CQ&q=Ladysmith+Black+Mambazo+Rain+Rain+Beautiful+Rain&hl=en-GB

Beautiful rain.

Well it is when your tucked up inside.

There's nothing quite like the sound of rain on the caravan and awning roof when your inside warm and dry, its very soothing and I especially love sleeping whilst the rain falls.

The site is very quiet today, the people who are here are in their vans, watching the world from inside. There aren't many tents either this weekend, and after last nights downpour I don't think there will be too many arrivals today.

Its Wellies on with lots of puddles around, the river behind the van is muddy and swollen and hurries down now its topped up with rain, there are little paw prints around the place from Luke the cat returning from his adventures. The awning is damp and uninviting, so its a day indoors for me.

More alarmingly there are repeated gunshots going off not too far in the distance, I'm assuming its some vermin infected farmer and not a local on the rampage, but still its quite unsettling as each shot pierces my tranquility. I wonder what it is and whether he's a good shot, or she even. It could even be a local gun club, who knows?

I quite like this quote, its not mine, but its good

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain"

I'm off to moonwalk to the shop.

Here's a nice tune for the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G860hkE0Tc

A tale of sorrow, a tale of joy

I haven't posted about my fishing exploits recently, mainly because there haven't been any. I have been many many times, but always returned, empty handed, and increasingly frustrated. As mentioned, fishing has the power to make you keep trying, it almost teaches you patience.

I've bought new tackle, new state of the art baits, I've watched DVD's, in fact considering I don't catch any fish, on paper, I'm nearly an expert.

As the spring turns into summer, and fish start to feed regularly again, the pond is a different place, the babies have grown rapidly, the sun has brought a lot of the bigger fish out, and the pond is now a hive of fish activity, I have sat on the bank, watching with green eyes as other pull out fish after fish, some small, but some big. I've watched kids fish for the first time and catch lots, and me, again, time after time, with a dry net and a headfull of questions.

At 10pm on Sunday night, I had my last cast, not of the evening,but I thought at the time on my short fishing career, I couldn't justify the amount of time, energy and near stress I was devoting to it, without having any end result. I left my rods in whilst I packed up my gear and got ready to call it a night.

Then, just like the last time (last year) I heard the unfamiliar sound of line slipping out of the reel, as a fish picked up my bait and swam away. As I struck into the fish I could tell immediately that it was bigger then most of the little fish in there. Within five minutes, after three months of waiting, I finally put a carp in my net, and brought it to the bank.

It was around 6lb, not the biggest, but a carp all the same. Finally!

It was unhappy about being out of the water, it had no idea I was going to pop it back, it only knew it was in danger. It tossed and wriggled, gasped, puffed and shook. I went to get the hook from its lip and it went ballistic, it really unnerved me and I just wanted to get it back in the water as soon as possible, there would be no photo, and although I was chuffed about its capture, its evident displeasure soon took over. I returned the fish to the water after it shook itself free.

Pleased with myself, I carried on packing up, looking forward to returning, finally with a story of triumph. I realised that in the struggle the carp had snapped its line, and taken with it my hook.

In our exchange, I got a story, the carp got a sharp metal hook, all in the name of entertainment.

I had come round to the way of thinking, that due to the relationship I'm sharing with nature on other levels and living so close to the outside world, that cosmically I wasn't meant to catch a fish, I wasn't meant to trick it into thinking it was lunchtime and disguising my hook into its food, I wasn't meant to use my powers as a human, to take advantage of a fellow member of our natural world.

All this changed as I put that fish back in the water. I went to sleep feeling a mixture of happiness and guilt.

The following evening, the guilt had conveniently subsided. Its amazing what we can justify to ourselves as being acceptable when we are in pursuit of pleasure. Instead of my experience leading me to renouncing anything to do with fishing and selling my tackle because its quite obviously cruel, I went and bought a new reel, and some sharper, newer hooks, and some bait produced in a laboratory to help me attract fish into my area.

As we returned from the fishing shop, there was a little posse of people, lakeside, they needed my help. A duckling no more than a month old had been found with a fishing hook in its mouth.

I took my discorger and forceps over to see if I could be of any help, the duckling had its mouth firmly closed, its mother was flapping all around us, she was extremely distressed that her offspring was in danger. I was unable to help, and as a concerned camper took the duck to the vets, little did its mother know, that she would never see her baby again.

The duckling that had survived threats from Herons, Cats, Foxes, Minks and other survival issues had met its maker in the shape of a fisherman's hook.

The duck age one month old was put down at the vets, due to having a hook lodged in its stomach.

Nature is cruel, but I think humans are crueler. Will I fish again? The way I feel now I hope I never do, its cruel, it has to be.

But like I said, we are good at justification, turning a blind eye to whats important, to the truth. We conveniently forget things whilst in pursuit of our pleasures.

It seems nature has evolved to protect itself against itself, but not against us, the humans.

Here's a video to accompany this sad tale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcqWyyHlCDA