A Little Bit of Excitement.

It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming. ~John Steinbeck

Dino is a bit of a nutter. He likes to fish. In all weathers. What's more he likes his girls to fish with him ~ at least sometimes. More girls have fallen at this Waterloo than I can remember. "Will you come fishing with me?" is the big, important question. The answer determines the future course of the relationship. Non~fishers don't last long.

Fishing defines Dino. It is who & what he is at his core & his family, who are not bound by these arbitrary rules, have derived much amusement from watching an assortment of girls squeamishly take their first tentative venture into the macho world of the fishing rod & the crab pot because, loath as I am to admit it, my sons are good looking & much chased after. Personally I don't think that's been a good thing but I am not responsible for the gaggles of girls intent on man hunting.

Theo has a sweet young lady whom we all like very much but Dino has been conspicuously single for some time ~ years in fact. Months away at sea is not conducive to long term relationships & back on shore he was too busy catching up with old mates to be overly concerned with girls. That has now changed & although I have met the young lady concerned I don't know her very well. She struck me as modern & very, very competent & quite a bit taller than my boy, whose not so obvious Spanish genes leave him a little on the short side.

So last night Theo took Dino's boat over to the mainland for him so Dino, with girl in tow, could go fishing early this morning ~ like before the sun was up. Last night was bitter. It went down to just 3 or 4 degrees before the wind chill factor. It was so cold that I stayed in bed & slept this morning rather than braving the elements as I usually do.

What woke me was the phone. I heard Liddy moving around so waited. The phone cut out then began again so I got up. I glanced at the clock. 5.30! It was early & it was cold & it was Dino on the other end of the phone with a reverse charge call.

Early morning calls are not generally a good thing, especially reverse charge calls. Nor was Dino's opening line.

"It's all right, mum, I'm not in the lock~up." Now why would I think that? Where he was was at the mainland jetty sopping wet, girl sopping wet, wallet, phone & car keys at the bottom of the bay! Only Dino. Getting into the boat they'd tangled in the fishing line with an unenviable result. As my first instinct had been, Oh no! He's put his shoulder out again! I was more than a little relieved to find it was just a case of a little water in the wrong place.

Would I, out of the kindness of my heart, ring his house mate & get him to come pick them up because, mummy dear, we are freezing out here?! I rang. I know the house mate rather well. He practically lived here as a child so I was not fazed to be answered with, "What the...?" I identified myself & after a shocked silence in which house mate came to terms with the fact it wasn't one of his horrible mates but one of his horrible mates' mothers I explained the situation. Amidst gales of laughter he agreed to brave the bitter morning to collect the bedraggled ones.

By this time Liddy & I were beside ourselves with laughter but it was less funny when Dino rang back to ensure help was on the way. I could hear the girl in the background sounding rather hysterical & apparently she was having a genuine meltdown. Dino sounded rather frazzled & obviously had his hands full & is now facing the sort of day that makes you wish you'd never got out of bed in the first place. I'm so glad it's not me dealing with the fallout from this one. Oh my! From sad experience he is unlikely to be able to recover anything from the bay & today, being Sunday, everywhere he needs is going to be shut. Do you think the girls is impressed?