freeline102 - Flipbook - Page 246
SI LLEWELLYN
fa n! After she was safely re tu r n e d , i t s ee m e d to b e ove r a l l
to o soon. Nothing left but p h o to s a n d th e m e mo r i e s , a n d wh a t
fo nd memories I have, but a s I s a i d e a rl i er, n o t h i ng t h at g o o d
c a n last fo rever.
At this point , you are p ro b a b ly wo n d e r i n g why t h e l a ke wa s
re ferred to as ‘The Petting Z o o’. We ll , as o f N ove mb er 2 01 7 , t h e
c l ub that ran the pit , in thei r i n f i ni te w i s d o m, d e c i d e d to p o l l u te
t h is special place with nea rly t h re e h u n dre d w ro n g’u n s ! A s I
s i t here writing this in m i d-A p r i l 2 0 1 8 , I ’m h e a r i n g re p o rt s
o f the old originals going b e lly u p d u e to d i s e a s e a n d p o o r
t reatment of the water an d t h e f i sh ! Yo u s e e wh e n yo u p u t
t h e wrong type of fish in a f i s h er y, yo u a tt ra c t th e w ro n g t y p e
o f angler! Bearing in min d t h a t d u r i n g my a dve n t u re I o n ly
c a me across eight or nine l a ds p ut t i n g i n any s e ri ou s t i m e, a l l
c a pable anglers looking af te r t h e l ake a n d i ts i n h ab i t a n t s . N ow
t h e place is jam-packed d ay i n , d ay o u t by t h e n ew b re e d o f
‘ u rban carper’. I’m sure yo u k n ow th e t y p e – eve ry t h i n g Ko rd a ,
a bifta con stantly on the go t h e s i ze o f a Co r n e t to a n d a b ra n d n e w set of 3ft Scopes! The l o c al n e ws p a p e r h a s b e e n d ow n to
re port on the activities of t h es e c re ti n s , f ro m exc e s s ive l i t te r
to swans mangled in cut o f f l i n e s! T h e day th e m u s ic d i e d .
So, what does the future o f ca r p an gl i n g h o l d fo r us a l l ?
Well, I have found so lace i n a n u n to u c he d 2 0 - ac re es ta te l ake
i n deepest , darkest Shrop s h i re – a s i gh t fo r s o re eye s , I c a n
a s sure you. And to all the t ra di ti o na l i s ts o ut t h e re I s ay, ke e p
t h e flag flying high, there’s a lways a n ew w ri n k l e i n s o m e th i n g
o l d, and if I bump into yo u o n t he b a n k s o m e d ay, yo u k n ow
t h e procedure… Get that ke tt l e o n , la d ! St ay l u c k y.
“You can’t beat death, but yo u ca n b e a t d e at h i n l i fe .” – Cha rl e s
B ukowski.
FREELINE 12 4
