Gone fishing.

Over the years there has been a succession of boats in my life! The first David and I started with a small yellow plastic thing, which we occasionally trailed to Cornwall but she was mostly found  around the area along the Essex marshes...We swopped her for a cabin cruiser which we kept on the Great  Ouse.
After her came the clinker built boat made by the local harbour master in Portscatho.....on her we spent many happy hours fishing until David's untimely death. I sold her. I knew I was never going out to sea again!
Then a friend decided to sell up and move back to the Cotswolds..... did I want to buy her boat!
Of course I did!  She was kept in deep water on the Percuil and every time I used her I had to row out in my dingy!  After a summer doing that I moved her to my home village where I lived about 100 yards away  from the sea.  Unfortunately this was around the time the church got me. During one summer I only took her out twice! She was, still is an Orkney Spinner...very trim and lovely to steer across the waves and catch the fish!
The next season was even worse...being a deacon keeps you very busy.
I gave her to a friend, the man who had saved her from storm several times in my absence and who still looks after my dog when I'm away.  
After I met the present David he revealed he'd given his boat up the previous year too! So we were boat less people.
Owning a dingy  is a wonderful thing! It gives you freedom in a way its impossible to imagine unless you've experienced  heading out to sea on your own, leaving everything and everybody behind, to catch fish!
The first recipient of the boat is now unwell himself so  she was passed on to a much younger man who I believe does use her....
I have been told that if I want her back or just want to take her out occasionally then I can but me and David agree that once  you've got to the stage in life when if you fall overboard then you can't get back into the boat on your own, thats the  time to pack it in!
In this village was a retired priest who had never owned a boat. He used to eye mine and say,
"I always wanted a boat Jean. I wanted to be able to put a notice on the pulpit saying "Gone Fishing"
He never managed it.  Neither did I!