freeline-105 - Flipbook - Page 175
EXCLUSIVE
c h arity match on Mall ard a n d
S a ndmartin in aid of th e lo c a l
c h ildren’s cancer ward . I t
w as a brilliant event — an d i n
t r ue Parrotte fashion, I tur n e d
u p in a full Noddy ou t f i t,
d e termined to catch a c a r p
a n d get the photo. Natural l y …
I blanked. I promi sed t h e
l a ds the next forty I cau g h t
A f t e r a s l o w, s t e a d y f i g h t , I
slipped the net under what I
knew was a good fish. At last
— t h e N o d dy c o s t u m e c a m e
o u t . S t a n d i n g a t t h e w a t e r ’s
e d g e d r e s s e d l i k e a c h i l d r e n ’s
T V c h a r a c t e r, I w a t c h e d t h e
n e e d l e s e t tl e.
A morning I’ll never forget
— not least because the lad
w ould be photograph ed wi th
m e wearing the co stu m e.
A l l winter the outfit sta y e d
b u ried in my bag, wai ti n g.
E a rly March arrived, the b o y s
w ere back on, and the c a r p
w ere beginning to wake u p . I
s e t up in LPJ and spo mbed o u t
m y mix. That morning I wa s n ’t
w oken by my alarms b ut b y a n
e c static Gary Denni s ac r o ss
t h e pond shouting: “ I’ V E
G OT HER!” He’d on ly g o n e
a n d caught the S.I. Ha r r i s
M irror — we were a ll buz z i n g
f o r him. He’d wanted her f o r
y e ars and she had evaded h i m
t o the point of desp erati o n .
T h en, as the sun crept u p ,
m y alarms screamed i nto l i f e.
in the next swim came out,
s h o o k h i s h e a d, a n d q u i e t l y
z i p p e d h i s b iv v y b a c k u p . L e s s
t h a n 2 4 h o u r s l a t e r, w e w e r e
a l l s e n t h o m e.
The nation was heading
i n t o l o c k d o w n . T h i s g a ve m e
a n e w p e r s p e c t i v e a s Co v i d
eventually slowed the Kingy
fever and made me realise
j u st
how
tunnel-visioned
I ’d b e c o m e. S i n c e t h e n , I ’ v e
t r i e d t o b a l an c e f i s h i n g w i t h
f a m i l y a n d w o r k — t ho u g h
Kingfisher still has a firm
h o l d o n m y he a r t . T h e b e a u t y
i s t h a t I st i l l h a v e u n f i n i s h e d
b u s i n e s s a t B l u e b e l l . Sw a n ,
Sandmartin,
and
Mallard
a l l c a l l t o m e. I ’ v e w a t c h e d
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