Able Magazine

Last week a magazine I’ve never seen before popped through the letterbox… it’s called Able. What a very interesting read! There are lots of inspiring articles and stories about disabled peeps like Nick – some of them are even as gung-ho as him!!

I loved the article about “Crips don’t get pregnant, do they?” most of all, as it really highlights the way people look at families with disabled members. (I probably could have worded that better, couldn’t I?LOL). Why shouldn’t we have kids and lead a “normal” family life? I do think sometimes that we have that awful Victorian mentality here in Britain: Sex is still ‘dirty’ and a taboo subject, disabled people should be shut in a room and not spoken about in ‘polite society’ – now there’s a misnomer if ever I saw one! Polite society?!!

Anyway, if you get a chance to read a copy of Able, I’d recommend it as educational and entertaining – also a very useful source of information for families like mine… Well done the team who put it together. *Claps*

Get off your high horse…

I get so annoyed by the petty digs from people who attack Reels on Wheels… these are so obviously related to Baldymort’s organisation and the sniping comes from P (for professor) Snipe. I’m referring to this comment left on the “Dilham Fishery” post which was written by Karen – one of the Team’s volunteers.

Although Karen isn’t a wheelchair user, or even disabled, she has fished with Nick – who is a wheelchair user – and other disabled anglers. She has a high level of awareness and has learnt about the practical needs of a less able/mobile angler. So, although not an “expert”, she is able to draw on her own experiences and offer advice. She was prompted to check out this new venue to see if Nick would be able to include it on his next venture into East Anglia.

The specs that she passed onto the owners were to help them with the measurements for a disabled toilet which they were in the process of building. I found them on the Oxford University’s website – that seems more than adequate to me… after all, I wouldn’t dream of questioning such a prestigious body’s ability to install disabled-friendly toilet facilities, as per the regs from the County’s assessor.

So, here’s the comment that ticked me off:

Hi All

You talk about what needs to be done to make a fishery more accessible for wheelchair users so what qualifies you to do this, there are regulations etc you need to no about, have you been on an access audit course and the information you are giving to this fishing complies with DDA (Disability Discrimination Act 1995). You cannot just give out what you think is best, You say “talked about what else could be done to make it more “wheelchair-friendly and kicker boards at the front of the platforms around 4”-6” high were suggested and they were more than happy to do this” are you correct with the measurements, what materials are you using etc.

The BDAA are the best people to discus all things to do with making fisheries accessible as they have a guide to making a fishery “Wheelchair Friendly” that complies with DDA rules etc.

Cheers

Pete

Thanks Pete!! I refer to my previous post about 100 degrees of disability – why are you so hung up on wheelchairs?? Are you in a chair yourself? I think most wheelchair-anglers would be the best judges of a fishery’s suitability for them, not some “walker” or AB do-gooder/jobsworth. It’s a sad fact that the majority of those employed as “experts” on disability regs are seldom disabled, let alone wheelchair users.

Also, we always mention the BDAA to any fishery we visit interested in Access issues – do you? Maybe you could be doing more to promote them? We link to them as an organisation on Nick’s blog and the Reels on Wheels website, both of which get good traffic and the vast majority of comments are positive or constructive… hint, hint.

So, stop having digs at ROW – which is for ALL anglers – and collect the toys you threw out of your pram as you leave my blog.

It’s all going on…

Well, there’s not much mojo here at the moment – apparently it’s very hot in Wales at Peterstone and the Team haven’t had a bite yet, so… that’s a bit depressing – though when I spoke to Nick he did say only 4 fish had been caught in 24 hours.

Had a call from Claire this morning to say she’d got her copy of the Angler’s Mail through and there was a whole half-page devoted to Nick and Reels on Wheels! Yay!! She took a great photo of it and I managed to read the entire article – fab! Thanks to Ben Weir for his ongoing support – apparently they’ve been getting feedback on the articles they write about us, so they’re making it ongoing – brilliant!

Had a call from Karen about a newish fishery she visited a while ago. She was invited over to take a look and judge its accessibility for Reels on Wheels and she’s going to write a complete review and email it to me later for the DA blog. (Complete with pics!) I’m looking forward to that, as it’s always good to feature relatively unknown places and give them a boost, especially if they care enough to try and provide as much access as possible for the less mobile among us.

We had a great result on the Buddy front this week too – thanks to Darren putting his name and phone number on the RoW poster he’d put up at Bradshaw fisheries in Lancashire… A senior citizen called Sid rang me to ask if he could join us, but he’s not online, so I mentioned Darren to him and he’d got his number written down… so to cut a long story short, they’ve arranged for Darren to ring Sid and let him know when he’s going fishing and Sid can go with him if and when he wants – which will save him a massive £40+ in taxi fares.

This Buddy System rocks, doesn’t it?

What a morning…

Good heavens, what a morning we had! Not good, either. We set the alarms for 4.45am and I got straight out of bed, went into the bathroom only to hear the rain beating down on the skylight… that was the harbinger of doom – should’ve stayed in bed!

We got dressed anyway and had a cuppa. Nick even switched the computers on so he could check the latest weather forecast. No mention of rain, so we decided to go anyway. We got to Bude as it stopped raining, got all the tackle from the Bus to the swim – about 20 feet away – and set up. I waited patiently in the chilly wind till he’d put out a carp road, for him to let me have one of the pole rigs.

I’ve got a straightforward, cheapo 8m pole, which is uncomplicated and has caught me fish – I judge all my tackle by those standards – if it works, I favour it. Same with rigs and floats – if I like the look of them and they catch me fish – great. I don’t like plain floats and self-cockers that sink as soon as you add the required shot… what’s the point? I tend to think that the manufacturers are having a laugh at my expense, so I’ve started ignoring what they say and put what I want on the line, one piece at a time, till it sits right for me.

Anyway, rant over! I set up, depthed my swim and popped the pole out. It was miserable, more like October than August. I tried soft pellet on the hook, corn, nothing. Then I tried changing my depth (we both did), nada, niente, zilch! As soon as Stuart’s opened, Nick got into his wheelchair and dived in there. He came back with (another) pole roller – he’d left his in the garage at home! – and some maggots. Cast out with maggot on and surprise, surprise – bumped a skimmer, caught a couple and that was it. Despite all our best efforts and feeding regularly, it was not to be.

I decided that I’d do the post before I got even grumpier – and the walk would warm me up – so off I went. I ended up walking right round town to get a pasty for our breakfast, but it was worth it! When I got back, we had some tea, a chat with a couple of anglers we’ve met (Englishoak and his wife) and by 12.30pm, I’d had enough and I packed down. I’ve never done that before, but I was seriously fed up!!

Nick packed up a bit later and we popped into Morrison’s for some essentials on the way home. (Doughnuts, milk, beans, you know, essentials!)

We discussed the day and have decided to go elsewhere early on Saturday and see what happens. I’ve decided to feeder fish and want to try the method feeder, as it’s something I’ve never used before. We’ll see what happens!

Next week is going to be busy – Claire and Julz are coming to Angler’s Paradise on their hols so we’re meeting up with them at Zyg’s BBQ on Sunday and having a days’ fishing together at least one day next week. I’ve invited them over for dinner too – brave, aren’t they? LOL!

Birthdays in the garden!

How lovely to be able to sit outside in your own back garden and enjoy the sunshine – at last. We had a lovely couple over for his birthday lunch today. They’re great fun and really good company – plus Stewart always mows my lawn when he comes over – he’s couldn’t sit still all day, ’tis not in the boy’s makeup!

We gave him silly pressies and I’d made him a farmyard card – he loves the outdoors and helps out at a farm where they live. The sad thing is, he has no sense of taste or smell – something has to taste really strong, sharp or sweet for him to get any taste at all, poor lad. So the SpagBol went straight down, despite the addition of garlic, but he enjoyed the lemon drizzle birthday cake!

I enjoyed watching him sweat while he strimmed away and then mowed. I think he earnt every strand of spaghetti and slice of cake! The conversation turned to fishing and they’d both love to go… We’re going to take them to Bideford Angling Club’s water – as they’re both disabled and there are toilets there too. Plus, of course, the water’s young and there aren’t any monsters lurking in there (yet!). It’ll be a lot of fun and might encourage them to take up the sport – here’s hoping.

We’d have gone next week, but she has to go into hospital and stay for a week while they run a lot of tests to monitor her seizures. Then she’s also found lumps under her arm which have to be investigated. As they’re on the nerves, she’s in a great deal of pain and has lost some of the sensation in her fingers. I feel so sorry for her and it hurts my soul that 2 such nutty, fun-loving people should have such severe health-issues.

Sometimes life just sucks and no matter how c**p I’m feeling, I just remember how lucky I really am…

Carp 3 – Rosie 1!

We went fishing today!! The weather was supposed to be sunny with showers, heavy at times. We got absolutely soaked. The “heavy showers” were more like monsoons and the sun was elusive at best. Nick took me to Angler’s El Dorado as I had expressed a desire to try and catch something a bit bigger – and I know these lakes hold  some very large fit carp, large orfe and golden tench.

Only trouble is, it’s very boggy and I’d forgotten, in my excitement, how wet it has been lately. It was very marshy and just getting our tackle to the swims, both my hiking boots became totally sodden. At least it wasn’t cold. We set up and I was fishing Jason’s soft hookers on a smallish hook, straight bomb on the bottom. I should’ve known it was going to be one of those days as I was just lining up to cast out, when I realised I’d forgotten to put the weight on! The bead was there and I’d baited up nicely, but no weight!

So, having rectified that, I decided where I wanted to fish and cast out. Sat and waited, watching the rod tip. I sat like that for  2 hours, made a cuppa, put the brolly up (thank heavens) and put up with the rain. I tried nice big halibut pellet in a band – it got sucked out twice! I tried meat and it got nibbled off. Jason’s soft hookers were also on strike.

I was obviously only there to take my rod out of the water when my husband caught carp and go photograph them! I was really fed up because I’d so been looking forward to fishing there. I swear El Dorado’s under-fished and there are some real biggies in there. I asked Nick to set me up a hair-rig and watched him do it, so I’ll know what to do in the future! He stuck a piece of meat on and I went back to my swim armed with a quarter of a tin of meat as bait and cast out.

It started to rain really hard when my rod tip shot round. I hooked into what I can only describe as a “monster” carp. I have a Shakespeare Mustang feeder (about 3-4 years old) that I use for float/feeder fishing. Normally, it handles really well and has managed anything I’ve hooked but today, I nearly had it broken.

This carp took me from the middle of the water to my margin, heading for Holsworthy at the same speed as a power boat, as I opened the clutch to allow him his head; then I gained a bit of control and he shot across towards the island as I fought back, trying to prevent him from charging through Nick’s swims. My arm was aching and my poor rod was bent double and this thing showed no signs of slowing down at all. Suddenly I heard the line go… with all the end tackle – he’d broken free and taken weight, bead, swivel, hook and hair-rig with him, the *******!!

Nick told me to tighten my line, not realising that it had gone!! I was spitting feathers. I knew it’d been a good fish and I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of it. So off I went, absolutely gutted for another hair-rigged piece of meat, plus a new bomb, swivel and bead. The rain was still lashing down as I cast out again and I had just lit a cigarette, when round the tip went! I was in!

I knew this was a decent carp, though nowhere near the size of the previous one. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it and the hardest part was getting it into my net. I was squatting down, rod tip high in my right hand, soggy, slippery landing net pole in the other trying not to let the spokes of the brolly blind me as I struggled to keep his head up and bring him over the net.

But I did it just as Nick struggled over to get the camera and take a pic of it for me. It went about 7lbs+ and I was made up. I carefully put him back in the water and sat down to finish my abandoned cigarette and get my breath back!

The rain just got heavier and heavier! 16 Canada geese decided to grace us with a swim past through the rain and Nick looked at me and said, “Enough’s enough! I’m packing up.” I was actually quite relieved. The worst bit was putting the brolly away. It’s as big as me and wouldn’t you know it? As soon as I’d disassembled it, the skies opened again! Sod’s Law.

The Bus is full of soggy tackle and all the clothing went straight in the machine as soon as we got home – trainers and boots too! To add insult to injury, it doesn’t look as if rained at all in Sutcombe today…

It’s a sad fact…

…of life, that no matter how hard you try, you can’t please everybody. Someobody said, “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time…” or words to that effect.

When we started Reels on Wheels we decided that we didn’t want any kind of “exclusivity” – i.e. we wouldn’t discriminate against, or exclude, anyone who wanted to be part of it. And that will always be so.

Claire’s local tackle shop owner has a 12-acre lake in France stuffed full of big fish. It holds carp to 50lb+, Wels catfish to 80lb+, larger than we see roach and tench and…. sturgeon. There’s running water and there will be toilets on site. He’s offered a week’s use of the lake to Reels on Wheels at a reduced price, so Claire and Nick are planning a “safari”! A trip of a lifetime, in short, an adventure for anyone at ROW who wants to come along.

According to Wikipedia… A safari is an overland journey. It usually refers to a trip by tourists to Africa, traditionally for a big-game hunt and in more modern times to watch and photograph big game and other wildlife as a safari holiday. There is a certain theme or style associated with the word, which includes khaki clothing, pith helmets, and animal skins — like leopard’s skin.

Now, it’s not particularly wheelchair-friendly, but there’s plenty of room for bivvies behind each of the swims, and there’s also enough space to park a campervan or Buddy Bus directly behind the swims too. It’s a beautiful location, just 2 hours’ drive from Calais and there’s even a boat at the lake, from which to fight the sturgeon!

So, like most ‘safaris’ or ‘rough guide’-style holidays, it’ll be basic and will involve us all mucking in together and plenty of fun. I’ve even volunteered to cook for all of us once a day because I really want this trip to be a success (not due to my cooking – LOL – but so that the guys who come won’t eat badly!!).

Here’s the pic that decided it for me:

So, what’s got me out of my pram? A new-ish member of the Forum, who hasn’t participated since joining, has made some overtly critical remarks and seems rather hostile to the idea of this trip. It’s possible that he’s outraged that we are going to a location that isn’t 100% disabled-friendly and he can’t (due to the nature of his disability), come with us. However, we’ve pointed out that we’ll be organising other events later this year which are totally disabled-friendly. But this trip isn’t till next Spring in any case.

He’s also criticised Nick for going “here, there and everywhere” instead of touring the whole of the UK as we had originally thought he would. What we have pointed out is that the reason he’s doing this, is dictated at present, by funding (or lack of it!). If he’s invited to a location, it means that he’ll be able to keep his running costs down. For a 2-month old organisation, that makes perfect sense to me – logical isn’t it?

We’re both always open to any positive feedback or practical suggestions from anyone who has an interest in Reels on Wheels and the Buddy System – so your input is gratefully received. At the very least, it makes us think!

Sharing…

… a bed with my husband should be one of those simple, 50-50 partnership things, shouldn’t it? Well it isn’t – in my case, anyway! He takes the middle half and I’m left with a choice of the halves on either side… and more than once have turned over to an elbow in my eye!!

This morning, we had that conversation…

Him: “I don’t take up all the bed!”

Me: “No, I get the outer half and you have the half down the middle. You’re just not used to sharing anymore, are you?”

Him: “Not true. I have to share my bed in the Buddy Bus.”

Me: “Oh yeah, with a tackle bag…” and it dawns on me that I’m comparing myself to a “tackle bag”…

Him – laughing: “Yeah, a tackle bag, two alarm clocks…”

Me: “Okay then, so I’m now a tackle bag, am I?” and giggling.

Him: “Well, no, of course not.! I’m just saying…”

I paused and said, “Well, I don’t know which is worse really – being called a Tackle Bag or a Tackle Tart!”

End of conversation. ;) 

N.B. If you don’t know what a tackle tart is, well, it’s someone who has loads of tackle, sometimes too much (if you’re the Buddy doing the carrying!) or what seems unnecessary – but they always say that they need stuff ‘in case’ of an emergency/something breaks…

Miserable Monday…

What an awful day! So much for flamin’ June… where’s it flamin’ gone? After an intensive meeting this morning, I feel wrung out. So much information to absorb and so many bits of paper to sign – oh woe is me!

We’re going to Bideford tomorrow to meet the journalist who’s doing a piece on Nick, Reels on Wheels and the Buddy System for the Telegraph. It looks (fingers crossed), like we may catch a tiny break in the weather. The forecast for tomorrow is cloudy, with sunny spells and scattered showers during the afternoon… so not too bad.

I’m out to catch fish and now that we’ve re-spooled the reels and put black hydro on our poles, I won’t have to worry about losing any more decent fish – if I do, then I’ve forgotten how to play my fish and it’ll be down to me!

I’m sitting here at my keyboard listening to Pink’s new album – a present from my lovely mate Leeza, who’s never too ill to care what’s going on in our lives. She and her husband Stewart are both registered disabled and she really should use her wheelchair more than she does, but she’s a stubborn girl… (could be why we get along so well!!)

She and Stewart have been super supportive since day one of the Buddy Bus Road Trip and are crazy people. They regularly give out leaflets to their family/friends and  organisations they have connections to – eg. Dreamaway – a local charity which enabled them to go on their honeymoon shortly after they married.

To meet them, you’d probably think, ‘Nice people, a bit nuts, but nice enough!’ Well, you’d be quite right – they are more than a bit nuts, but the salt of the earth: The kind of people you really want in your corner if your back’s to the wall.

Oh well, come rain, come shine, bring it on! I’m going fishing – woohoo!

On another mission…

Yep, he is. He’s now waiting to be contacted by another carp angler about fishing as a partnership at the Wales Carp Masters Tournament at the end of July. They’ll be fishing a non-stop 48-hour heat (for carp only), the winners of which go through to the WCM Final – purse £10,000.00. That’s a lot of money. But you should  see the size of the carp! Nick hasn’t fished for carp up to 50lbs for many years… I bet he has fun!

I’ve made my Topper for the competition at Aunty’s – finished it last night. It was quite easy in the end, although I made a bit of a booboo with the stamped image – it didn’t come out right using distress ink, so I reverted to trusty old Stazon and placing the image without an acrylic block – just my fingers. Came out fine. A bit of highlighting with the white gel pen and a dab or two of glossy accents.

And there’s a link to my Altered Art blog in the side-bar now that I’ve begun to post over there. I created it to prevent anglers who come over here from getting fed up with a crafty blog, when this is my space to blog about R-O-W and us, not crafting!!