Reasons to be miserable

MY significant other has declared me a ‘little ray of sunshine’ – Not! Worse, she’s right. I see little on the near horizon to smile about. Nearly all my shooting was cancelled and it is ages before the trout start rising. At least someone with a modicum of common sense is allowing fishing in lockdown; presumably as there are few activities more antisocial. Stamp collecting, perhaps? But even philatelists doubtless like to congregate to share the visceral thrill – chacun son goût – of a newly discovered ‘misprint’, whereas there’s little more infuriating than a heavy-footed angler mate coming to ‘have a chat’ as I try to tease out a twitchy trout. In fact, we are all Norman No Mates now. Zoom calls – or Zoom drinks, God forbid – hardly compensate for lost sessions in the pub talking rubbish with chums.

So what to do? I spend happy hours scanning auction sites for items