Fishing Dinner

Last night I went to a Fishing Dinner, that is a meal for a bunch of fellows who fish (and their wives). Needless to say there was a lot of bait-and-tackle discussion, but people were friendly and I managed to Tell the couple next to me about Homeopathy for Health in Africa, in fact we had a good chat. It's funny how different people pick up on different things; last night I was warned about the trauma of seeing poverty - which I'm sure is true - but I am currently still grappling with the worry about not seeing my hairdresser for 12 weeks.

One well travelled chappie listened to me and then gave me a single tip - which I share with you:
"when you arrive at the airport, do not go with any of the taxi drivers that try to take your bag (and apparently loads do), but choose one that hangs back." Sound advice I'm sure, so I didn't feel right mentioning that I might be catching the bus.

On the other side I sat next to a lovely lady and through the evening (having Told her early on) we talked about all kinds of things, including her chickens. It's seems Gadget Dave has a rival, in the shape of her husband. Since retiring it has become a nuisance to get up early and let the chickens out, so they have an electric door on a timer (!) The one time it failed they went out to find their most feisty chicken digging for freedom.

Finally the cheese course came, which for special effect was wrapped in nettles. (I say for special effect but I haven't a clue really and the things were so black and mouldy, quite frankly they could have been old socks). However all the cheese was eaten and conversation turned to nettles. Well, I extolled the virtues of drinking nettle tea as the men wept at the simplicity of my poor weak mind. Tony pointed out that the only good thing to do with nettles was to turn them into beer however on the one occasion that he had attempted this, on opening the first bottle (fortunately in the garden) the mixture exploded. In angry response he then tipped all the rest away. (Beneath the roars of laughter he quietly admitted that he had added extra sugar and yeast to make it stronger).