A geek like me

An update on my mission to find my inner nerd. You may recall that I was pondering whether fishing should be my chosen specialist niche subject. The reason I'm drawn to fishing is that I have tender memories of going fishing with my grandad when I was very little. 

I was lucky enough to have a grandfather who was a country-grammar-school-boy-made-good. His own father had been a senior member of a country squire's domestic help team (see what I did there - good old marketing speak!) What I mean to say was: he was a servant. And so was his wife. But my gramps got some decent qualifications and, eventually - after the pesky second world war was over - qualified as a surveyor. With useable skills like that, he was soon joining the civil service and heading overseas. First Africa and then, after my mum had grown up and had me, to Bermuda. 

So my childhood experiences of fishing with my grandad weren't down at the local canal or rezza like many of my school mates, but standing on volcanic rocks at the edge of the Atlantic with a balmy breeze just balancing the hot, humid night's air, and a hand line dangling down to the tropical fish that inhabit Bermuda's infamous coral reefs. These latter have been wrecking ships for centuries, but also mean that the island's fish are safely enclosed in a barrier that keeps out many of the big fish predators that would hunt them elsewhere - including sharks.

We used to sit on the rocks for hours staring at the stars, slicing up bits of squid to stick on our hooks and catching all kinds of amazing looking fish.

I've come to the realisation that I'm unlikely to be able to recreate that kind of fishing experience in the UK. So have decided to save fishing for a hobby when I'm a bit older and have, hopefully, retired to more tropical shores!

But - this doesn't mean I've given up on my quest to find a hobby. Far from it. I've got two possible serious options now.

Since last writing I have been gripped by an addiction for Bridge. The card game. This has pretty much happened accidentally, but four of us have started playing on our credit-crunch-with-children-nights-in on a Friday, Saturday or even Sunday (after roast dinner) and what was a slightly ironic activity has taken on increasing fascination and seriousness. It's so complex. And so enjoyable. A bit like The Wire, it's all in the game, yo.

Meanwhile, my mum bought me a sewing machine a couple of weeks ago in a bid to get me to stop talking about how I want to learn how to make my own dresses and get me actually doing something about it. I've booked myself into some beginners classes (found via Gumtree - what an ever increasingly brilliant site that is) that start in a couple of weeks, purchased a load of patterns, some material, scissors etc etc. So watch this space. The next Coco Chanel may be about to reveal herself. I've also discovered a really quite vibrant community online of fellow would-be seamstresses and seamstrers (?) in this funny little website called Burda.

So, give me a few weeks and I'm going to be a cocktail-sipping Bridge demon by night and a cocktail-dress-making sewing machine whizz by day. Not sure how it's quite come to this, but I'm not fighting it. I can't help thinking my grandad is having a quiet giggle to himself somewhere as he catches another sea bream "for the cat" at the big fish-in in the sky.