Mingy Dampy Tenty!

This is a cheat Blip but I make no apologies just as Vodafone Ireland almost certainly made no apology to my daughter & family when their internet connection went down for several days and delayed me getting the latest news from the grandchildren. Apparently, they were helpful despite the helpline operator seemingly sitting many 10,000's of miles away at the other side of the world.

This was grandson Elliot away for a few days at Scout Camp at Enniscrone in Co. Sligo on the Atlantic Coast. I am particularly keen to record this as we had a "dispute" when he was over a couple of weeks ago.

One day I asked him if he wanted something different to BBQ rather than the standard sausages. He replied mackerel and I said no problem as I knew our supermarket stocks it. However before I set off, I got the alarming message from mother that my idea was not a good one. Elliot "denied" he suggested it even though his sister Charlotte had confirmed he had some connection to mackerel from last years scout camp.

And so the photo of the boat trip is of them setting out this year to do some mackerel fishing and thus proving I was innocent of trying to poison my grandchild! Mother did not send me any photos of him eating mackerel, instead, one of the group in a cafe warming up with waffles.

As a child at Elliot's age, I often went out fishing on the sea with the adults. It was Trinidad and a bit warmer but although I may have bragged about our fishing success, my memory is more of the awful sea-sickness caused by the hours of either sitting at anchor in a swell or trolling with the stench of cut up old bait baking in the heat and the stench from the boat engine. And added to all that, I was never a fish fan. But these are not things you admit to in younger years.

They had a great time. I liked mother's comment when her brother J asked whether he smelt fishy when he got home - "No, just mingy dampy tenty!". I can still remember that smell from my scout camp days some 55 years ago.

I hope Blip HQ doesn't read of my crime - I also did it because I happened to see a posting from a new young Bliper of her fishing adventures the other day not far away in Donegal & sent her a welcome note. Mimi is one of my all time favourite names but that goes back over 55 years.