Swings and roundabouts in the land of Covid
I am just about as confused as a canary in a coal mine right now.
On April 17 my board was waxed up and ready to go, but then it was over. No surfing. We were told we have an extra two weeks to wait and I was furiously making ready to glide some waves on May 1. Eish, dreams were torpedoed again and I halfway gave up on June 1. If you have low expectations, you can’t be disappointed, so June 1 was not that much of a disappointment.
I commiserate with those smokers who think they can go and buy a pack tomorrow and then all of a sudden, no, they can’t.
My surfing pastor friend Marc Morrell and his son Tim have been so excited about going surfing and so disappointed that now he tells me he has pretty much given up hope. Hope is supposed to be a pastor’s main message so if my buddy has thrown in the towel the situation is bad.
I have an Achilles tendon and calf muscle that have packed up from too much roadwork so I am gradually beginning to collapse on the couch and look for the next best thing to eat. What a waste of my early Covid fitness regime!
Surfing fitness seems like a lost cause at the moment. But praise the stars — minister of environment, forestry and fisheries Barbara Creecy made a clear statement early this week: we can go fishing!
I packed my car and loaded my canoe straight away on Monday night when I heard the news. On Tuesday I was out of bed at 4am and by 4.27am, three minutes earlier than scheduled, I was on the river.
Modern LED headlamps are a fantastic invention and I pumped some good mudprawns under my personal spotlight.
My first bait hit the water a few minutes before 5am. Back at my computer and working only 15 minutes late at 7.45am. I can tell you I was more than a little pleased with my 62cm spotted grunter in the fridge.
The fine quarry made supper for four and the leftovers made fish burgers for two the next day. There are still one or two pieces to go.
My pastor friend had three shad and one blacktail for supper and my good friend “Mouse” had four shad in the pan.
Thank you, Barbara Creecy, what a joy. If we can’t get our Vitamin Sea floating on a surfboard at least we can get a bit of it with a rod and line.
Aside from surfers and anglers though, I will say Covid is real, it is still here and the ICU beds are full.
Keep to protocol, use masks, wash hands, keep your distance, protect and enhance your immune system with good food and exercise, and do your best to keep your mood and that of your friends up.
Your very life might depend on it.
But I do hope sanity prevails and that we can go surfing soon.
• Although the department of environment, forestry and fisheries appeared to give the go-ahead for recreational fishing this week, by time of print the regulations allowing for fishing under level 3 of the lockdown were still to be gazetted.
Hope is supposed to be a pastor’s main message so if my buddy has thrown in the towel the situation is bad