Friday the 13th and don't I know it.  The day started off ok.  We managed a good long walk, along with Peter and his lab.  The dogs got on well, and the rain held off.  After breakfast I decided to go fishing.  There was a bit of drizzle in the air, but the black clouds said that there was rain to follow.  It held off long enough for me to put a brolly up, and then the heavens opened.  Never mind, I was dry enough and tucked up out of what little wind there was.  The fish obliged, and within ten minutes I had a nice common carp in the net, though I got a little wet trying to land it.  Several other fish followed including a lovely little plump leather carp and a nice size perch (on the worm).  I had the radio on and listened to a couple of really good plays.  The time was racing; I was concious of needing to be home around 12 -o- clock, and looked for a break in the weather.  It didn't oblige, so I decided that I would have to get wet.  I struggled under the brolly to pack away as much as I could, leaving my reel on top of the tackle box (when you have the brolly pole in the back bracket, you can't get inside the box; it's a design fault, but the bracket comes in very handy when you can't get a brolly pole into the ground.  I turned around to pack my rod away, and caught my box; the reel slipped off and bounced into the lake.  I looked, but the botttom dropped away on this particular peg and the water is at least three feet off the bank.  It was raining hard, the bank was steep, I couldn't see the reel; the only option was to leave it there, pack away and return with a diving suit.  I was soaked when I got back to the car, but home is only five minutes away.  I put all my tackle in the garage, took the brolly out to dry and went for a warm shower; ahhhh. paradise!!

The Post office was quiet, I started a book, but it was rubbish.  Thankfully, Sandra arrived about 3-15, and her company was very welcome.  The afternoon passed reasonably quickly; we locked up bang on 5-30 and headed for home.  It was absolutely lashing down; the roads were awash and traffic was slow.  I changed into my drysuit, grabbed some snorkelling gear and we headed for the lake.  We took the dog, and she enjoyed a run around whilst I kitted up and swam across to where the reel had gone in.  I found it straight away and headed back.  There were lots of carp to see.  It's funny how you see them whilst snorkelling but not so when your'e using a regulator.  By 7-00, I had the drysuit off and was enjoying another shower, (the dog had one as well, she was filthy).  We're going to take it easy tonight; a mixed grill, a bottle of wine and corry on the telly.  The reel was none the worst for its soaking; I washed it out and it's drying off.   Tomorrow's the 14th; thank God, though it's St. Swithin's Day, so who knows?