...this dark sky will soon turn blue....

and it did about 30 minutes after I took this!

It's been a funny day....funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha.

Fishing match again, drew a peg away from everyone else, loads of space to left and right, perfect for catching fish, no one near to tempt them away from my bait.
Three choice baits to go at, maggots, pinkies and blood worm and joker. Cold water so blood worm seems best, lay down a good bed of joker (another type of larvae) and off we go.

30 minutes ....no bites...oh well, switch to a slightly larger bait....pinkies (tiny little maggots dyed flourescent pink).

90 minutes a few little knocks but no bites...ok bigger bait....maggots.

2 hours....still no bites.

Resorted to skull-duggery, phoned the Boss and asked her to bring me a rod and reel. Took the pole apart and put it away, met the Boss in the car park, and collected the gear.Whacked a maggot and feeder out 20 metres.........BINGO! the bites started. Caught reasonably regularly for the rest of the match, but obviously couldn't make up for the lost 2 1/2 hours. Still at least I wasn't last! (And before you accuse me of cheating I checked the rule book.....there's no rule about having equipment brought in the middle of a match....only extra or different bait).

But the really strange thing about the day wasn't that ..........it was this......
When i woke on Saturday I had a little swelling on my right instep and during the day it got slightly bigger and a bit sore.

This morning it was painful to get my boot on.

When I took my boot off after the match , the pain was incredible, the swelling was about 5cm by 5cm right across the arch! After tea the Daughter drove me to the Drop-in Centre, limping badly. Was examined by a nurse and then a Senior nurse, answered all the questions....Have you been bitten by anything? Have you dropped anything on your foot? Ankles swollen? Fever?Do you have varicose veins? Has it spread up your leg?

No, no, no, no, no and no.

Conclusion....Not an allergic reaction, not a stress fracture, not a circulation problem, not a general infection, not varicose veins, not cellulitis.
No sh*t, Sherlock! It's a localised infection , cause unknown, not requiring anti biotics.

Treatment..........400mg Ibuprofen every 8 hours, no walking on it for 24 hours and keep foot elevated. If swelling grows any bigger return to Centre and ask for Colin!

Got home, the Boss, who is a nurse, agrees, the Daughter took great delight in drawing round the swelling with a marker pen so we can see if it gets bigger and a slight disagreement about going to work tomorrow. Seems like I lost and I'm having an enforced day of rest with a raised leg................unless it goes as mysteriously as it came.

Das vidanya and pass the boli-utal-yoyu-shi-ye (pain killers)