But afterwe got bicycles we started fishing in the
Thames below BurfordWeir. You want to put them on the hook alive,so that they
wriggle.
There were good things to do in those days. I dont
exaggerate when I say it wasenormous. WhenI was a kid every pond and stream had fish
in it. Im lying on mybelly with Chums open in front of me. She burst out at me:The
IDEA of wasting all that money on a thing like that! Fraid youll have toget to work
now and start earning a bit to bring home to yourmother. Sometimes he reads me stuff
about it out of books.
Anywhere within ahundred miles of London there are
no fish left to catch. Theres a kind ofpeacefulness even in the names of English
coarse fish.
After I was sixteen I didnt go fishing again. The
brutes that I was watchingmight be a hundred years old.
Our favourite trickwas to send him to shops to buy
things that didnt exist. Of course I have my fortnights holiday every summer. It
seemed more grown-up than fishing in cow-ponds. Ifthe war would forget about us for
just a day! Ive seen two chaps in a dugout fight like devils over half athreepenny
magazine.
Our favourite trickwas to send him to shops to buy
things that didnt exist. Theres time for everything except the things
worthdoing.
Anywhere within ahundred miles of London there are
no fish left to catch.