Grandalf

Yesterday I was bloody awful........today I am fine too. Maybe it's something in the air or maybe it's the water in the whisky.

It's the tool that pastry cooks use for putting the 'teeth' marks on the edge of a pie.

The Mark 1 Eyeball can't see through a cloud, the dark or a hill. Nor the Mark 7 for that matter. Believe me, I tried it for 42 years of my working life. Radar and passive sensors are much better.

Absolutely superb photography. Thank you. As a long time grounded ex pilot I enjoyed looking at them.

If the manned fighter can have all that 360 degree 'vision' (Radar etc), then why can't a drone have it fed into it's AI 'pilot'?

I was a member of the Reforendum Party. Do you remember that? Our only aim was to win an election - Force a vote on continued membership of the EU - Win that reforendum - Leave the EU - Then hold another election for a government. It seemed pretty fanciful at the time and none of it came to pass because our main benefactor died. However, look what happened after that - Farage came along and formed another fanciful party. I joined that too. It didn't quite happen the way we hoped it would because that clown Johnson stuck his oar in when he finally made his mind up who was likely to win but, and this is the point, Brexit happened and most of it is thanks to Nigel Farage. He only went to Bruxelles to close the place down or get us out. He succeeded on one of those points. Now he knows he can't win a national election at the moment - but acorns grow into mighty oak trees. A large vote for Reform, and maybe one or two MP's, would be a grand way to start. When Farage speaks people listen and I, for one, am very glad that he has joined the fray. The main parties will never reform the electoral process of this country although it is about 400 years out of date. Reform will if it gets a chance. A vote for Reform is not a wasted vote. Patience is needed.

Every dog you ever own breaks your heart one day. You did the right thing for him.

I used heavyshot for years. Avid fowler back in my younger and fitter days. Results were superb but the cartridges were expensive for those early lead free fowling days They were the best thing you could use for geese. Threw them out of a Beneli Black Eagle. Have just passed ten boxes over to my son. Advised him that if WW3 comes along they are a good substitute for anti tank rounds. He already has the weapon.

It's not the wishes of the inhabitants of this country that will decide the matter. It is the wishes of the leaders, usually self appointed, of potential attackers that will decide things. (Putin in this case). We just have to be ready. If you read any reliable history, then in 1914 and 1939 Britain, the rest of the major European countries and America, were not, in any way shape or form, ready to fight a major war. 'It will never happen' was the most heard phrase of the day. Well it did happen - Twice in one generation. That unpreparedness caused the deaths of millions of people worldwide. And we are all walking into the same trap again.

Right now I am trying to sum up the energy and the interest to go and mow the lawn. But then I was never interested in gardening. Will get round to it sometime I suppose. It won't go anywhere. Look after yourself my friend.

Sorry the delay in answering Marsh man. It's a combination of things. I don't have the urge for fowling as bad as I used to and that's come on slowly over the last several years. This is mainly due to the fact that, as we all know, the best fowling is when the weather is at its worst and the inclination to sit out there cold and wet is not the same as it once was. My wife went into a care home just over a year ago and I had been home caring for her for more than ten years. (She was disabled but now has Alzheimer's badly as well and is totally confused all the time). This meant that my free time for fowling and other things was limited to when I could get a relief carer and this could not be done accept on a pre arranged basis. No last minute decisions. So I would have everything ready days before and go whatever the weather - Good or bad for fowling. Now I can go more or less whenever I want but find that I would much rather go stalking which I took up a good few years ago. (I have just done a DSC1 course - Not that I needed to but wanted to. It was very informative). So now I still get up at silly o'clock but don't have to do long approach marches on the marsh. A gentle wander to a high seat or a slow and sedate stalk through the woodlands is far less strain on this old body of mine. The drag out can still be very taxing though. However, I think the main reason is that I have had glaucoma for many years and my eyesight has deteriorated very badly in my right, master, eye. This meant that about six years ago I had to start doing all my shooting left handed. I got on with rifles straight away as my left eye is still very good and you ususlly have lots of time with a rifle shot. Shooting shotguns cag handed is not so easy though. Simple birds get missed very easily and it has never got any better. It just feels all wrong after 70 years of doing it the other way round. I have handed all my shotguns bar a Hatsan semi over to my son. So now I am getting out just as much, maybe more at certain times of the year, but I never go stalking in bad weather as it is usually a waste of time anyway. The deer bed down in the thickest brush and stay there. The other thing is that the resultant venison is much valued by many of my neighbours in the small village in which I live. I also enjoy the butchering and basically live on venison myself these days. It is super stuff to eat. So I am still very active but just doing something different but similar, if you know what I mean. I intend doing a sponsored half marathon for Alzheimer's Society funds this coming August so I am not sitting on my backside watching daytime telly yet.

It's not easy. I have also decided to call it a day as I explained on this site a few weeks ago. I'll be 85 by next season so I have had a good run. You will always have the memories.

Done

I'll stick to my choice of Tina Turner.

Nobody on this topic said they were giving up Lloyd. We all do something else. We have all fought battles with our health as we got older. In my case I have lost half the sight in my right (master) eye so I have resorted to shooting shotguns and rifles left handed. Give that a try next time you go out shooting. I have a ******** back. You can give that a try too. Try dragging a fallow or red out of a ditch on your own now. Then imagine what it is like when you are eighty. The cold strikes more, the back hurts more, the eyes see less and you have other obligations - mine was to care for my disabled wife for over ten years until she went into a care home when she got dementia. None of us are giving up. We are country men and country men never give up or stop being countymen. You just have to be reallistic and adapt. Stalking two or three days a week, aged 85, all through the year is hardly giving up!