When I was coming home from cricket last night, I felt inexplicably sad. It was cool and autumnal, and I had injured myself trying to play cricket. To top it off I had hit a rare shot out of the middle of the bat, only for a certain six to be caught on the boundary. I then got stung on the arse by a wasp that had taken up residence in the clubhouse. Cricket is brutal and so are wasps.

Worrying Times

Most of all though, it was the recognition that summer was almost over and there are worrying times ahead. The threat of further issues with Covid19 are very real, as is the economic chaos with regards to Brexit.

Nut jobs and conspiracy theorists might be more concerned with what is going to happen to ‘The Last Night at the Proms’ (nothing) but anyone running a business that relies on commercial buoyance, is worried. I speak to worried clients every day. Some are more worried than others, but they are all worried.

I know there is no point in worrying about being worried as it is not good for your health. But worry I do, particularly when I have had too much booze or sleep deprivation. I do sometimes (not often, thankfully) worry about sleep deprivation, which keeps me up at night in an annoying self-fulfilling prophecy.

So anyway, I got home and as part of my fad that is a seafood and vegetable diet (no proper meat) I had some prawns and noodles with a glass of vin rouge and channel flicked. I discovered that through recording the last series of ‘Gone Fishing’, I had somehow asked to record the new series as well. So, I watched it.

Lifted Gloom

Within in five minutes, my autumnal gloom had lifted. I really have no idea what this programme does to me, but for reasons I can’t fully explain, it fills me with joy. It is just two ageing blokes fishing. One (Paul Whitehouse) is an expert, the other (Bob Mortimer) is a novice, with boyish and infectious enthusiasm.

It helps that I was once a keen fisherman of moderate ability and that I love the natural world. In this series, nature is encapsulated with brilliant camera work. There was one-bit last night where Paul’s fly line was caught by the cameraman fizzing in slow motion through the river. It was wonderful. The overhead camera work is also a joy to watch.

I have always found Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer funny guys. In this series, they are funny but also honest. They talk candidly about how they have dealt with major health scares, the loss of parents and all other silly things a couple of old mates’ chat about.

By the time the programme had finished, my irrational and self-indulgent gloom had lifted. “Oh well…We’re all fucked anyway”, I thought, before heading of to bed, lying to myself that I would go salmon fishing in Scotland one day.

Gone Fishing can be seen on BBC iPlayer.