Then when my sister was old enough, my mother taught the three of us how to play MJ [mah-jongg].

We stamped around to get some circulation into our legs after a stint of three hours in the cold water, had a pull at a bottle of wine, and chinwagged with some of the other fishermen who were clambering out of their waders beside their parked cars.

Word comes from Edinburgh that our colleagues are rebelling against the LibDems' charge of £1300 for a seat on their battle bus which today, we hear, had only one passenger.

Yes, there are many delightful areas, odd corners of real countryside - and of course great cliffs, brilliant hill walking, and a general state of woodedness not now found in much of the rest of England.