A pilgrimage across southern England

[Mendip]

I'd just like to say that the reason we didn't go on the pier is because the daughter didn't want to, I was indifferent and my mum was sat in the car putting some time pressure on the whole enterprise. There are no amusements on Clevedon Pier but I believe you can get a fancy ice cream at the end if you so desire. I'm not a tight wad and just wait until we get out on the Grand Pier at Weston-Super-Mare at some point... I'll be chucking around the 2p pieces like nobody's business. I spend around 250 quid a months on street dogs, FFS... I'm the opposite of tight.

Anyway, after arriving in the UK I immediately noticed a worrying thing about my young daughter. It seems that after nearly 3 years of Covid restrictions in Thailand and especially at her school, she is now very reluctant to take of her damn face mask. She seems to be more comfortable wearing one all the time... it's like her safe place. I'm trying to coax her out of this and am having gradual success... at the moment we compromise on her wearing no mask outside but wearing one in shops etc if she wants to. I've been away at work so much lately and we haven't been out in Thailand much so I hadn't noticed this before, but it has become very obvious since arriving in the UK where no-one is wearing masks anywhere. I think that the long term mental effects of Covid on kids continue for a long time.

Today we had to do a quick shop before visiting 'Secret World Wildlife Rescue', a place I've been looking forward to visiting for a long time. On the way to Street we passed an internationally famous land mark. We'll go up there one day... after all it's free.



We needed a raincoat and beach shoes (for rock pooling) for the daughter and a car cigarette lighter socket phone charger because I forgot to bring one.

Check these out for a bargain!



I also treated the daughter to a very generous sausage, cheese and beans melt. Her first ever summertime Greggs.



I went to 6 different shops trying to get the phone charger but eventually gave up and sat in the car and ordered on off Amazon using my phone with next day delivery. I know you should support the high street... but I need one.

Then we headed to Secret World. The last time I visited this place there were ferrets, foxes, birds of prey and a badger set with a glass front so you could see the badgers sleeping together underground. I love this kind of thing.

Home Page - Secret World Wildlife Rescue

After a 40 minute drive we arrived full of anticipation... but it turned out that it hasn't been open to the public for around the last 15 years. They have an open day in late August... but no good to us.

[malmomike77]

it's like her safe place. I'm trying to coax her out of this and am having gradual success..

Tell her the UK needs cheering up and seeing a Thai smile will be a big help, the UK has forgotten how to do it.

[Joe 90]

at some point... I'll be chucking around the 2p pieces like nobody's business.

she is now very reluctant to take of her damn face mask.

Kids adapt very quickly to new situations, she will ditch the mask soon enough.
You need to take her to a place where there's kids of similar age playing and she'll soon not feel like being the odd one out.

also treated the daughter to a very generous sausage, cheese and beans melt. Her first ever summertime Greggs.

Respect!

after all it's free.

Respect!

Check these out for a bargain!

Respect!

[Mendip]

Part of the reason for this father-daughter 'pilgrimage' was to relive a few memories and give the daughter a better insight into my childhood and places I visited. Coincidentally she is now 11 and if we were living in the village, she would be finishing up primary school next week and going to the local comprehensive in September. She is the exact same age as I was when the family moved into the house we're now staying at... my mum's house these days. That alone makes me feel pretty old.

Since we had an unexpected free afternoon I decided to take her down to the river to catch a trout. I spent half my childhood fishing on this river and just walking along it brings back a flood of memories. I still recognise certain swims after 40 years.

I found an old legering rod amongst my fly rods on the home-made bracket on the garage wall. Those fly rods have been untouched for at least 30 years.



I found my old coarse fishing creel and emptied it out. The contents of this had been untouched for probably 40 years and was in pretty poor state. There was even a bag of rabbiting nets in there... I don't know why. I haven't been ferreting for probably nearly 40 years and it was a strange feeling to think that in the early 80s I had carefully folded those nets after a day's ferreting and laid them in the bag. It all made me a bit maudlin and everything went into the bin... partly because it was all so degraded but mainly because these memories have to be laid to rest. I'll never be doing that stuff again.



Anyway, I cobbled together a set up using a legering rod, a sea reel (loaded with 15lb line) and a pack of size 6 hooks. None of it was perfect but it was all we had. I found some worms under some plant pots.

There's no fishing allowed on the river any more, but besides, we were headed to a part that has never allowed fishing and I used to access though a gate at the bottom of the garden... directly into a field that leads to the river.



Sadly it is overgrown now, and access isn't helped by the mountain of garden cuttings I dumped there yesterday.



We had to access the river discreetly from the road so I kept the rod broken in two pieces and held it against my leg while the daughter carried the tackle and a tin of Thatchers in a plastic bag.

A simple set up. The plan was to free line a worm under the bridge.



There's the swim. After 20 minutes we moved elsewhere. For one, b@stard people kept walking across the bridge and I started feeling a bit foolish repeatedly hiding behind a tree with the daughter, and for two, we were standing upstream of the bridge so any trout would have been immediately spooked by us.



We went to a second location but this was directly opposite a house and there were people in their garden. This is the problem with good weather.

The daughter soon discovered that her new rock pooling sandals were no protection against stinging nettles or a sloppy cow pat. To be honest she wasn't rally enjoying the fishing experience.



The cow pat culprits soon spotted us and started to head in our direction... so I decided to return to our first swim. These cows can be a nuisance.



This time I sat a few more metres upstream from the bridge while hiding in some undergrowth and tried to drift the worm down in the current but it was pretty hopeless. The line was way too thick and stiff and wouldn't freely un-spool from the reel and the worm just sat there below the rod.



We were trying to stay as hidden as possible but after half an hour this wanker on the bridge spotted us and started going at me that fishing wasn't allowed and we should leave. I gave him a couple of sarcy replies but my heart wasn't in it any more. There was no chance of catching anything, I'd finished my cider and the daughter was also getting a bit disturbed by all the goings on so I decided to leave.



So that's another memory relived but put to bed. I'll probably never again fish on that river which is a strange feeling but I guess you have to eventually move on. To be honest it was a lot more fun fishing there as a kid with my mates and stolen cigarettes and tins of cider. Returning today has just made me a bit melancholic and I'm quite glad we didn't catch anything. It was a mistake to go back.

[MarilynMonroe]

Good to see you spend some time with your daughter. I don't think it was a mistake, as your daughter got to see a part of your past that meant something to you even if it wasn't a success in fish catching. Cute doggy too!

[MarilynMonroe]

I'm trying to coax her out of this and am having gradual success... at the moment we compromise on her wearing no mask outside but wearing one in shops etc if she wants to. I've been away at work so much lately and we haven't been out in Thailand much so I hadn't noticed this before, but it has become very obvious since arriving in the UK where no-one is wearing masks anywhere. I think that the long term mental effects of Covid on kids continue for a long time.

I think it may take some time. You don't really need one outside, but I see this a lot with friends and students as well. They are scared and got used to wearing masks. They dropped that mandate only a few months ago in my school and it took most kids no time to take them off, because they were so sick of them. There were a minority that would keep them on though. It is really sad what everyone, but especially kids had to go through these last few years. I know here in Canada, they've had to move to online learning, then back to school, and back and forth a few times. Learning has suffered tremendously in many students, which I really noticed this year. She'll get there, just give her time. You can model it for her.

[Joe 90]

Brilliant update Mendip

Nice pics as well!

Perfectly illustrated

I concur, sometimes it's best not to go back and try and relive memories.

I did it three times with Tenerife holidays, never again.
God loves a trier.

[Joe 90]

You don't really need one outside,

Indeed MM, the only people that wear them here now are the unvaccinated.

[Bonecollector]

It was a mistake to go back.

I disagree, a memory is a memory and your daughter will remember the day regardless of it's failures. Must have been quite a laugh hiding from people with a 30year old rod and a hand full of garden worms 55555

Do you remember the exact day you last packed up your fishing bag? Quite surreal when time passes like that.

[Bonecollector]

It's perfect here, 22 degrees, took the car in for an MOT had a lovely long walk back with the dog.
In the park now and gonna head to the beer garden soon

I'd much sooner it stay at 22.

I really haven't felt too bad in our nations capital, maybe because I just spent June in the kok which is one of the hottest months.

[Bonecollector]

Do you remember Monster Munch and those pickled onion 'Meanies'.

The ones that were really well coated would take you away to a special place. As would sucking on your fingers mid-pack.

Guess most of the chemical ingredients are illegal nowadays in such Nannystates, due to birth-defects and the sort.

You can tell a lot by which flavor monster munch a man goes for.

[Joe 90]

You can tell a lot by which flavor monster munch a man goes for.

The illusive Chilli monster munch is a bit of a mission to source.

[aging one]

Lead story on CNN, the heatwave coming to the UK, especially southern England. 40 they say is possible in London.

UK heat forecast: A hypothetical weather forecast for 2050 is coming true next week - CNN

[katie23]

^wow, possibly 40 C in the UK?! It's 32 C in my location here in PH.

@Mendip - it's good for your daughter to see her parents' roots. What you're doing now reminds me of the times that I went with my dad to visit his hometown in the province. It was (still is) a very rural area. My parents chose to live in my hometown for better work opportunities & for the kids (sis & me) to have better education.

Wow at 11 years old, Ms Mendip has overtaken me in height! From your last update at sea, she was 5'1" so I was still taller. Now that she's 5'3", she's overtaken me. I'm 5'2" and taller than the average Filipina (average for females is 5').

Rock on! Happy trails.

[armstrong]

Fuck me, must have been Friday night. Hope Mendy and Lill Mendy did more with their night than talk shyte on Teakdoor . And thank ruck tightarse Armstrong is not my parent

I would have had you aborted.

[Shutree]

Check these out for a bargain!

You can't beat a good pair of 'shandals'.

[Shutree]

She seems to be more comfortable wearing one all the time

Quite possibly she is more comfortable with a mask, a couple of years of being told to do something is a long time at that age.

During my visit I always carried a mask in case some places insisted that one be worn. Outside in London nearly no one wore masks, except for various Asians - visitors or residents I don't know.
Some folk still wore masks on the London underground when it was busy and a few people who might have underlying conditions or even active Covid infections. I tried to stay away from masked-up people because I couldn't guess why they were wearing masks.

[Looper]

Returning today has just made me a bit melancholic

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

The daughter soon discovered that her new rock pooling sandals were no protection against stinging nettles

I've got almost the same pair of water sandals as what the mini is rockin and they are great for stream wading.

I am surreptitiously excavating one of the neighbour's stream courses to make sure it does not divert across my driveway by random erosion and if I wade up the stream course then I do not leave any incriminating footprints on the muddy bank.

Is that an oak tree?



That should be a west country regional natural monument, beautiful.

Lovin this thread

[malmomike77]

Is that an oak tree?

I doubt it, but may be wrong its too dark leaved and dense.

That should be a west country regional natural monument, beautiful.

There are many senior trees around the west country, old and standing alone in fields, sad imo. But they are recorded, there is a significant and old tree register. Visiting them has been a thing of mine, i'm not religious at all but sitting underneath some of these trees in summer alone with no one around is as close to a spiritual experience as i've had, aside from sex on a certain drug or two.

you can look some up here

https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk

[Looper]

^It certainly looks monumental whatever it is, when you notice how small the cows look beside it.

[malmomike77]

There are many like that in fields, some pre-date the field enclosures act which explains why they stand alone, the farmers never cut them down and were not allowed to. What you see is a grazing field and farmers now are planting new trees in these fields, 2 or 3 low density but its encouraging, they build large staked cordons which are designed to last 20 years to stop the cows etc grazing them.

The real problem in the UK for woodland is the Grey Squirrel and Deer, the former an introduced pest and should be eradicated, the latter as a native species is usually controlled through culling but foreign species of deer have escaped and bred (muntjac) and both squirrel and deer populations are stripping bark on young trees or killing saplings. These are trees we lose which could live for hundreds of years. We should eliminate the Greys completely and cull and sell the deer meat. Win Win.

Sorry Mendip for the diversion.

[DrWilly]

Brilliant thread Mendy. Reckon you should take her proper fishing with the right gear…she might enjoy it then.

[Reg Dingle]

How much have you saved today buddy?

Here's a free cider for ya

https://www.freepint.inchscider.co.uk/

[can123]

Hello Monkey Face, hows your belly off for spots? Remember me? I am the man who is Can123. One of the non-pissheads here.

[CalEden]

Why isn't fishing allowed in the river? Whatever they are trying to accomplish they haven't achieved it in over 40 years. Like in the Robin Hood days is the fishing reserved for the King/Queen/Royalty?