Bradford Lad: Happy Landings
Mike Coatesworth recalls the day when he went fishing and "caught'' a barge.
The other day my relatives took me to Apperley Bridge for a little fishing. We set up our rods and soon we were casting our lines.
Whilst waiting for the fish to bite, I took a sip of tea and recalled the times when, as a lad, I went fishing with my friends in that same spot. We used long sticks as fishing rods, with string for lines and worms as bait.
We took our lunch with us, two thick slices of bread each, spread with sausage dripping, and a bottle of pop to wash it down.
I recall a day when there was a large brightly coloured barge coming towards us. Our fishing lines were directly in its path. We were pulling in the lines when one of my friends got a bite. There was a fish on his line. It was huge. Well...it seemed huge to us. In our excited desire to land it we forgot about the barge, which was now almost abreast of us.
We suddenly noticed the barge and panicked. We not only lost the fish. We lost two of our homemade rods as well.
The barge pulled into the bank a little further upstream. The bargeman waved to us, inviting us to come aboard. We declined. We were not sure what his intentions were.
He smiled at our cautiousness, calling down into the boat. A moment later a woman appeared accompanied by two children of our age. They showed us around the boat. This was really exciting. The only boats we had been on before were paddle boats on the local park lake.
When the man reappeared he handed us a fishing rod each. He said we could fish from the barge. He showed us how to cast a line.
We began to fish. Then the woman came up onto the deck, carrying a tray. She gave each one of us a sandwich and a glass of pop. We couldn't believe it. There was bacon in the sandwiches.
I couldn't wait to get home and ell Aunt Chrissie about my day. And would you believe, she had a special tea waiting for me.
Bacon sandwiches.
