It’s a wonderful sunny spring day, the birds are singing and there is a gentle breeze rippling the surface of the lake. I should probably be at work.
It’s a fishing lake in the heart of the Sussex countryside and I am here because of my son’s obsession with fish and fishing. It seems that if I am not helping him build a Koi pond within what was planned to be my fernery, I am sitting by a lake watching him fish or visiting an aquarium.
I am not a fisherman myself, never have been and have no real interest in it beyond enjoying the obvious pleasure it gives both my sons.
One aspect of their hobby that I am finding most agreeable is that they have to be accompanied by a responsible adult, and I at least, partly qualify for the job. It gives me an opportunity to stop work and just sit in a beautiful place and do absolutely nothing, without the usual pangs of guilt that I would feel about wasting time.
So for me, and I suspect many others fishing, it provides a legitimate reason/excuse for idleness.
Not sure how I will cope when the kids grow up and can be idle all on their own!