Sunday, October 02, 2005

Foul-Hooked Father And Son

10/02/2005

Back to a wet and windy Glen Trollaigh after a few relaxing wet and windy days flogging some Sutherland rivers. Dearest Dottie and I were somewhat taken aback to find the Vestey lodge at Lochinver boarded up and shuttered for the winter and no sign of our hosts. Cross-examination of some lurking locals provided the info that the Vesteys had buggered off back to The Chilterns, which they also own, only one son remained in a remote highland lodge and would not take kindly to visitors. We were forced to put up in the hotel, which was no great hardship, although despite its efficient and friendly staff, has a slight feeling of the mausoleum about it, must be my age. The good news was that the river staff were expecting us and had planned a day or two of easy fishing on the best beats available. My days were split between getting my tweeds extremely wet in the rain and gales, then trying to get my tweeds dry again in various hostelries. My arms certainly ached after hours off Spey Casting with a heavy sinking line to combat the fast torrents, but such fun. The evenings were spent in the pleasant company of other fishers, the only blot being the appearance of young Tim McKessock-Bridge and Tony Gourley with a party of hoorays complete with the latest accessory foreign wives, who all fairly battered the Hotel white wine cellar, and left a drought of fizzy water from Inverness northwards. While adding my modest contribution to the catch records, I noticed that Tim and co had scored rather too highly on an unfishable upper beat, my companion suggested “good fishing” with some irony, definitely underhand tactics being employed, still Tim’s father was just as bad. At the Tower of Glen Trollaigh Mhairi and Lachie have coped well with difficult but high spending Bavarian stalkers, and of course the bad weather that has found many old roof leaks, and also caused a lot of damage to our water supply where flooding burns pound our flimsy pipes and tanks. I am pleased to report that my redesigned No 2 Septic tank seems to be standing up well to the pressures that the Bavarians have placed upon it. My main concern is the rocketing cost of living in rural Scotland, current year on year inflation running at 7% despite the rubbish produced by the Beastly Brown, who has more cause for tantrums as our President Blair has changed his mind and will not be standing down. We now learn that Beastly Brown’s wonderful economic reforms are not even his own work, but that of some schoolboy called Balls, how very appropriate!  Certainly, we seem to going the way of France and Germany into high taxes and economic decline. Because our workers cannot understand that their ever increasing demands for improved terms and conditions, are food and drink to the workers in Poland and every other continent where they are happy with less than a quarter of our wages and none of the bells and whistles of protection and pensions. Even good old Cal-Mac is shifting offshore, saving some £5 million per annum in National Insurance contributions, and of course, Pension Fund? What Pension Fund. I feel that we all in for a bumpy road over the next few months, were only the vast army of civil servants and their cronies will flourish. I had better start stocking up on a few of life’s essentials. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.

Message for Hugo and Casino, I am back in charge and if you tossers do not stop botting my comments page, I will turn it off. Bugger off!