Bootyfull

For many years we have been avid car boot goers and we have nearly always returned home with some real bargains, yesterday was such a day. In order to bag the best deals, experience has taught us to arrive early. Very early. So on Sunday I got out of bed at 04:20am. and by 5:30am. we were on our way to a large car boot sale that is several miles away. The weather had clearly had an impact, with sellers arriving but being reluctant to set up their stalls in case it rained. For an hour or two we wandered around thinking that we were not going to find much, but by 09:00am I had a bag full of bits and was very happy with my haul. I have difficulty buying leather craft tools, it is a dying skill and I have only ever found two outlets in the UK that sell them. You can imagine my delight upon seeing an old boxed set of leather tools, complete with storage rack lying underneath a table. Clutching the box in an iron grip, I enquired about the price and for just £3:00, the tools now belonged to me, I knew that I had bagged a real bargain. On my return to the truck I checked my leather craft catalogue and pricing each item individually it came to a total of around £137:00. The previous week, I paid £7:50 for a pair of neoprene, chest waders, made by a well known manufacturer, still in the original box and completely unmarked, what's more, they were in my size. Checking on the Internet revealed that the current price for these waders was £89:99. So for £10:50 I had purchased about £227:00 worth of goods, worth getting out of bed for I feel.

Some new bits that I made

The last couple of weeks have been a little disjointed but I have still managed to keep myself busy. Although I don't post pictures of them all on here I am constantly thinking about things to make and trying new ideas. So here are some of the things that I have come up with recently. I am trying to learn traditional methods of stitching leather and it takes much practice, I haven't perfected it yet and I imagine that it will take a while, but for me, it is both absorbing and rewarding, even if it makes my shoulders ache a little. The top three pieces are credit/membership card holders and the bottom three are simple purses. Being now, a much maligned smoker I also had to have a go at a couple of tobacco pouches. I try hard to make items of high quality and so, on all of these items the leather is a good deal thicker and more durable than most similar items I have seen in shops, for this reason I do not line the inside, as the leather will long outlive any suitable lining material I can think of. When each piece is complete, I give it a good polish with beeswax to help protect it from damp and dirt.

Things that go bump in the night

If you don't know by now, I am a quiet sort of guy and I am not fond of busy or noisy places and that is why Thursdays location seemed so appealing. After a lazy few hours, taking in the scenery etc. we retired to bed at about 9:50 pm. As is normal practice, Pat lay reading and after clearing my mind I was soon sleeping like the proverbial baby. Subconsciously I felt the van move, but I am used to that now, it moved some more, side to side. "What's making the van rock?" said Pat. "Dunno" I mumbled, still half asleep. Back in the land of nod I was woken by a loud and heavy BUMP on the bodywork of the van. Meg began barking, which is now most unusual as she seems to be quite deaf. Another BUMP and the van rocked again, I could tell from the roof lights that it was not quite dark, Meg turned up the volume. I moved the curtain to one side but could see nothing, the bumps got louder and more frequent and the van was constantly moving. "It's the bloody sheep" I blurted out, so I clambered out of bed and opened the door nearly getting legged up by Meg in her haste to frighten off the offender, which of course sent a flock of about 60 sheep scattering and bleating across the field. So I am now running around a dark field, in my pyjamas and bare feet, chasing a barking dog that is causing a frenzied panic amongst a flock of demented sheep. With the sheep now half way down the valley, Meg and I returned to the sanctuary of the van where she slumped on her bed and watched me cleaning sheep shit from between my toes with baby wipes and moaning about nettle stings up my ankles. All this for just £6:50. We moved off the next morning.

On the move once more

The last couple of weeks have been a little demanding one way or another, but for now at least, we are on the move again. We are in north Shropshire, not far from Chirk, facilities are minimal but that is fine by us. A small stream runs through the farm but sadly, I am told, it does not contain any fish. On arrival we chose a spot at the lower level of the land and spent the afternoon there enjoying the sun. Meg passed the time searching for sheep shit and scoffing it, so I imagine she is going to be sick over the next day or two. Why do they do that? Yet, I can put down a bowl of dog food and she wont touch it. Says a lot for the taste of dog food doesn't it? Or maybe I should begin canning sheep shit. After our evening meal I checked the water level in the tank and felt it prudent to top it up now rather than run out in the middle of our ablutions in the morning. We drove up the valley to the tap (it is about 1/4 mile) and the view was much better there, we decided at this point to stay on the high ground instead. I imagine that we will stay here for a couple of days at least.

A bit of a standstill

For just over a week now things have ground to a bit of a halt. Last Friday, my father in law (who is 78 years old) had a very nasty fall and sustained quite a serious head injury. He has been temporarily hospitalised. We have therefor holed up in order that we can give help and support where and when it is needed. At present, I have no idea when normal service will be resumed. As you may imagine, we are undergoing long periods of waiting around and also long periods of intense activity travelling to and from hospital. He has improved a little over the last few days but it seems there are many issues that need attention.

"Stream Fisher" My New Blog For My Fishing Stories

Recently I have been very conscious of my increasing number of fly fishing related postings, I understand that some of my readers are not the slightest bit interested in fishing and so in an attempt not to bore them I have started another blog, Stream Fisher purely for my fishy tales.

Clun Green Man Day

We left Wales on Thursday in order that we might be somewhere quiet for the bank holiday weekend and ended up in Shropshire once more. For the first few days we had no phone signal, no Internet and the best brook trout fishing that I have ever experienced, but that is another story. We had been told that the Clun "Green Man Festival" was a good day out and so, on Monday, that is where we went. First of all, I would like to thank my friend Chris for telling us to go along, it was a brilliant day and somewhere we would not have gone had it not been highly recommended. On the left you can see the two main characters of the day that everyone turned out to see. I think that they were photographed more than any party leader on a political crusade but here (on the right) is one of them just to try and redress the balance. Visitors were kept constantly entertained by various re-enactments, fire eating, folk music and maypole dancing etc. The guy on the left looks like he had just been evicted from the round table and he could have used a good dose of light machine oil for his knees, he was certainly not about to sneak up on anyone. The atmosphere was excellent, with most people really entering into the spirit of the day. The entire day was overseen by the guy below, who, for some reason, seemed to have a phobia of small boys running around with hand saws. Our thanks to the organisers and the people of Clun for a first class day.