After catching up with outstanding office jobs, and with Debbie at home ill, I called Jim and then attended a CFSA meeting about their Sutton shoot on the Ouse Washes for winter fowling.
I sat next to John Humphreys, long-time fowler, author and columnist in The Shooting Times
It was back to work in my office this morning as I went through all my outstanding jobs to see what needed to be done. Diana was out putting cards into the local shop windows advertising for a handyman and, once I had separated these jobs out from my list, my life activities seemed possible after all! I was out with Sam this morning, first doing the customary water work and then some quartering around the gravel pits.
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Then again this afternoon, up at Molesworth where, for the first time in a while, Sam put up a hare at a distance and I managed to get him to stop with my whistling. It was still very windy, and I was also pleased to get him to quarter properly downwind; running away in a straight line and then zig-zagging back towards me on one side to continue the search. I took joy in relating all this to Jim Bird on the telephone later and, in particular, my latest fad in speaking to Sam in "Norfik". He was born in Norfolk, his mother was Norfolk and his father was Norfolk and so when I say "Are y'a'rite boy?,
Are y'allrite?" then he responds! I forgot to tell him that I had contacted the Abbotsley Game Farm earlier and made arrangements to "hire" a partridge and cage when his breeding stock had paired up and been put out later in the month so that we could use the "odd-bods". A rush to get out this evening to the re-scheduled meeting of the Cambridgeshire Field Sports Association at a pub at Stow-cum-Quy near Cambridge, particularly because the A45 was closed for road repairs again.
I just stayed there for the formal business and long enough to pay my subscription but was interested to hear of their Sutton shoot on the Ouse Washes for winter fowling, even if it had been too flooded to provide much sport in this past year. I found myself sitting next to John Humphreys, long-time fowler, author and columnist in The Shooting Times and something of a legend in these parts. Home to see the end of a TV football match before joining Diana in bed.