A very Happy New Year, dare we dream that we are not in a similar position another year from now?

Happy New Year and I hope you all had a really good Christmas wherever you are and whatever you do. After spending Christmas on our own last year because we don’t have any family nearby and couldn’t do that one day thing, it was so good this time around to be able to sit down for lunch on Christmas Day and hear that familiar noise and buzz and laughter. I got to see my dad who has not been at all well and who has got yet more cancer treatment coming up soon. He’s a true fighter and I am in awe of how he faces the cards he is dealt………

Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine that we could ever be in the sort of situation we are in right now, and especially this far down the line when I guess we all thought we’d be as good as through the pandemic and out the other side? I don’t count my chickens and I consider myself extremely fortunate that mental health issues have not yet been a part of my life, but where are we all going to be another chunk of time down the line? In most respects I try my best to take the Happy New Year thing on board and look to the future with my customary hope and positivity, but sometimes I stop and really think about where we are and to be quite honest I find it almost beyond comprehension. I guess that a number of you here are in the same boat, and to be honest I feel a bit of a prick for even thinking like this when I am very obviously not on the front line of what is going on. I can sit down and think about how easily and freely I used to move around this glorious planet for work and play and I wonder if we will ever be able to do so so freely again. I cling to hope but from time to time my brain leads me down a different path. I look at my two amazing girls and I wonder if they will ever be able to live the sort of life I so hope they get to live.

But of course we have our fishing, and if ever there was a time for the whole fishing thing to be something to cling to like a piece of driftwood in an empty ocean then I would suggest it is right now. I don’t really care whether it’s going fishing, thinking about fishing, actually catching fish, thinking about fishing tackle, fishing with friends, planning for the fishing year ahead or dreaming about fishing somewhere extra special - it’s all part of fishing and I think we need to celebrate the sheer joy and intense need for it even more. Here’s to your fishing for 2022 and may it bring you as much pleasure as my own fishing brings me. Happy New Year, I’m going to continue with this blog because I love doing it more than ever, thank you as always for reading it, please interact with me via the comments section below, here’s to 2022 and let’s bloody well hope we are in a somewhat better place three hundred and sixty odd days from now…………….