Twenty-two years and twenty weeks, Eleven months today, An angling session on the River Stour
Saturday is my blog ‘anniversary day’ and today is twenty-two years and twenty weeks since I published my very first entry. I did know, even on that day (July 5, 2003), that it was a long-haul commitment.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that I’m still going strong all these years later. The term ‘Labour of love’ always comes to mind when I think about my blog. Although it’s in the public domain, it is primarily a personal diary, as I record my own life’s adventures.
Today (November 22) is also eleven months to the day since I retired. They say that time flies when you’re having fun’, well, if I tell you it feels like eleven days, that gives you an idea of how quickly it’s passed.
Again, it was a decision that I knew was the right one to make. I had wanted to do it for a few years but, from a financial perspective, it was important to get the timing right. In eleven months, there hasn’t been one moment of one day where I’ve had even the slightest tinge of regret.
Of course, like every other day of 2025 so far, there’s also been an angling session today. Now that the rivers have recovered from last week’s Storm Claudia and the resultant floods, it was nice to return to flowing water.
A first-light trip to the Worcestershire Stour was the order of the day, as I fished the first two hours of it. As always, you can follow the action via the video above, which wasn’t much but, after my last two pond outings, at least it was good to get back on track.
Plus, although I wasn’t targeting them, it was great to catch gudgeon. I love the mini-species anyway, but there’s always something special about Gobio gobio, as it was my very first species of fish caught way back in the sixties.
Nature-wise, I saw one kingfisher in flight and one male goosander on the river. Drifting downstream, as soon as it saw me it departed pretty quickly. Later, two male goosanders flew downstream. No ring-necked parakeets on this occasion, they’re usually numerous in the area.
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