How Times Change....

The last week has seen me working down in Devon and I took my gear along with me in the hope of getting a day on the banks of one of the many fisheries down that way.  However circumstances dictated otherwise and a text message off my bank on the Monday afternoon informing me that they had arranged an informal overdraft extention to cover standing monthly payments that were, or had, gone out of my account meant I was potless until Thursday.  This seriously dented any aspirations I had of any fishing and so with a frustrated resignation I had no choice but to just get on with the job in hand and concentrate on work.

Now in the past I would have had a meltdown at the thought of going over my overdraft and would have slipped very easily into a bout of depression, but this time I adopted a much more positive outlook at the situation and just didn't bother worrying about something that I had no way of fixing. It had happened, it was happening and I couldn't change a thing about it.  I felt the odd moment or two of something I couldn't quite work out at first but then realised it was just pure and simply self pity.  I work long, hard hours doing what I do (Retail IT by the way.  I install PCs, servers, switches, tills, printers and just about everything else to do with tills in some very well known High Street retailers stores) and here I was not able to afford a few hours leisure time.  I looked at my outgoings and realised things had to change straight away, with the bulk of my money going on cigarettes.  I worked out the cost per month and was staggered by the result.....I could afford a decent new seat box every month, I could buy myself a much wanted shed for the garden, I could do such a lot with the £380 every month I'd save if I stopped.

It was at this point I decided that smoking was going to stop, I was going to quit as soon as I had finished the packet I had on the go at the moment but after that I was stopping for good.  I had stopped back in 2007 / 2008, but foolishly started again after breaking up with someone (another reason to dislike her I suppose) and so I knew I could do it again.  I've made some half hearted attempts in the intervening years but never really committed to the process of stopping, but this time I was going to do it for sure.  It helped that I was living in a Travelodge all week because I had a long walk from my room down to reception, had to stand in the cold while I puffed on my ciggie and then had to go walking through the hotel corridors smelling of the tell tale smoke making the return journey feel something like a 'walk of shame'.

I fell foul at the first hurdle on Thursday though and bought a pack of 20, but my determination not to buy anymore was, and is, strong so I thought "Okay, you've bought some.  Let's try and reduce the amount you smoke and not fall back into old ways."  I got back on Friday with 11 left in the pack so that was a positive and immediately set about formulating a plan to keep to.  I left the ciggies in the van which meant I had to go outside if I wanted one and leave the comfort of the sofa, the wind and rain from the tail-end of Hurricane Doris was still about so that added to the discomfort of being outside because the van is a work vehicle and we are not allowed to smoke inside.  With the cost of the habit in mind I worked out that I could spend £30 on patches and lozenges and be in profit after just three days and then the rest of the month would be savings.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say in a very convoluted manner is how my outlook to situations that once reduced me to a gibbering wreck has changed, and I think this is very much due to taking up fishing.  Any angler will tell you that no two sessions are ever the same,one day you could be catching all day long, the next day at the same peg you could blank and struggle to catch a cold, let alone a fish.  You kind of learn to adapt and roll with the punches, find a solution to the problem, look at the bait you're using, change tactics if needed, make little adjustments to your presentation and not get stressed out by things, and I honestly believe that I have started to draw on this and I'm applying it to life and situations in general.  Okay I'm going to have a rough month, maybe two, until I have a firmer financial footing, but things will improve just as they do when you go fishing the next time after blanking (unless, of course, your name is Damian...he did have a spectacularly long run of blanking sessions)

Fishing has been a real life saver for me and considering I used to call Luke and Damian all-sorts of names for being anglers and I was very much in the anti fishing camp, it has surprised me just how much I enjoy the sport now and how much of a positive influence it has had on my life.

That's enough from me for this week.  I'm too busy making a list of things I want to buy at the Great Northern Angling Show in April...

See you on the bankside......