My sister Noreen has spent all her life in England and was married to an Englishman, Dave, who sadly passed away 2 years ago last Christmas. Now Dave was a good man, if a bit headstrong and he always had a strong opinion of things. At this point in time he was an avid fisherman. He was one of those people who when they took up something they bordered on obsessive at that discipline and of course knew all about it. Well, he arrived over on holiday one summer with all his fishing gear and wanted to know where the best fishing was. Now I am not a great fishing man but I knew of a great lake in which to fish.
Lough Bridget
So before they arrived I went over to see Jack Kelly to ask his permission to fish in his lake as he owned all the land around it and might take exception if I didn't ask. He never refused, but always liked to be asked.
I took Dave past it on the first day so he would know the way and we stopped outside Jack's house which overlooked the lake. Dave got out of the car and looked studiously at the lake and declared that the best place to fish was over on the far side. Now not being a fisherman I had no clue why he said that and suggested that we ask Jack himself for advice as he had fished this lake all his life and had a B&B where fishermen would stay and he would obviously know the good spots.
"No way" says Dave "I know just by looking at the position of the reeds and the contours of the shore where the good spots are"
"Wouldn't do any harm to ask" says I
"No way" says Dave.
Dave left very early the following morning for the lake and I again suggested that he ask Jack about the lake before he started as Jack would be up for the cows anyway.
It was around lunch time and I thought I would go along and see how he was doing. I pulled up outside Jack's house and there was Jack leaning on the gate puffing away at his pipe surveying the lake. I joined him at the gate and spotted Dave on the far side under his umbrella surrounded by rods of varying size.
"Alright Ger" says Jack
"Aye, you" says I
"Aye" says he and we lapsed into comfortable silence drinking in the peace and tranquillity of the scene.
After about 10 minutes..
"He'll never catch a fish over there" says Jack
"Oh, why not" says I
"My Da told me that there are fierce spring over that side with some sort of natural shiite and no fish are ever found there" says Jack
"Oh" says I "and what time did he arrive this morning"
"About 6 hours ago" says Jack
"Does he know about the springs" says I
"No idea" says Jack
"Were you not talking with him this morning" says I
"Aye, just before he set off for the other side I was bringing the cows in and we had a chat, he knows a lot about fishing, never shut up" says Jack
"Did you not think to mention the springs" says I
"He never asked" says Jack innocently "You going to tell him"
"Nah" says I "Fancy a pint Jack"
"Aye" says Jack.
I did mention it to Dave that night and do you know what, he didn't see the funny side.
Great characters and times -- priceless
