It feels like quite a long time since I wrote anything. I do not make any apologies for it. I have had to work rather harder than I would wish and have been out just enough to stop me from being a total saddo. I also have had a huge case of writer’s block. Unfortunately, there is no publisher to chivvy me along or pay me for that matter. It’s actually been so bad that I have got rather desperate. Inspiration has been found in rather a twee movie called Julie and Julia. It tells the true life story of a woman who has a crummy job. She makes her life rather more interesting by laying down the gauntlet to follow through the five hundred or so recipes written by Julia Child in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”.
She writes a blog as she goes. And, as if in a fairy tale, someone publishes it and they make a movie about it with Meryl Streep in. It’s ok as these films go. The Meryl Streep bits are better than whatever soppy girl played the bloggess. The blog is rather good, though it is a bit repetitive. I also find it rather hard to believe she could make pastry but had never boiled an egg before the whole project began. Her husband must also be a very nice man. No man I have ever spent any amount of time with or indeed have ever known, would tolerate that quantity of dodgy quiches for supper.
I decided that perhaps there was a way of mimicking this success story, whilst giving it a fishy twist. I also desperately need something to do. I miss the river, I miss the sunshine. I am really cold. Flyfisherlady Terrace is under six inches of snow. My best friend has just got engaged and consequently I am dieting. There's something rather tragic about a fat, single lass at a wedding. I don't want to end up crying behind the marquee shovelling stolen wedding cake down me like a bulimic.
I bought myself a copy of Oliver Edward’s “Fly Tying Masterclass”. These are beautifully illustrated patterns for the advanced tyer. They also make rather lovely semi-realistic flies. Not quite Art on Hook, but a sloppier, marvellous Yorkshire version.
It is really complicated, I don’t understand the names of most of the chapters “Heptagenid Nymph” and the” Ryachophilia Larva” are ones which stick out. I honestly don't think I can do it.
So, the challenge: All twenty patterns from Ollie Edwards by the end of March, in no particular order. Oh and b*****ks to it. A good dress size down as well. Ha! What have I got myself into?
So without further ado, I shall do my best to do as Edwards says. “Just follow the sequence drawings, fix the route in your mind, have the correct materials to hand and- with a little practice- you’ll produce flies identical to the ones in my box”. Hmmm….
