Two good things happened today. The first is that the broken rod that I sent off to Orvis came back. As it happens it is not just the old rod fixed up but a shiny new rod of the same vintage: Clearwater 10 foot, 4 piece for a 4 weight line. Orvis say that if they can´t repair your rod they will replace it with a similar model and they provide their rods with a 20 year guarantee.

I have to say I was very impressed with Orvis. I had bought the original rod about 3 or 4 years ago but the “thick end” behind the reel seat came apart exposing the blank. This rod was originally purchased from the US and I never filled out all the paperwork for the warranty. Nevertheless the Orvis repair people in the UK didn´t kick up a stink and charged only the usual 20 pound handling fee. They were courteous and efficient and I am much obliged to them.

The discovery of a bottle of beer was the second good thing that happened. One of the benefits of never tidying out a car is that there´s a pretty good chance that stuff that was in it once will still be there – somewhere. Sometimes too you can make the odd serendipitous discovery as I did today when I came across a litre bottle of Alhambra lager. This stowaway was obviously the legacy of a recent trip to the supermarket and it succeeded in concealing itself among the assorted debris while the rest of the shopping was being carted off to the kitchen.  Today´s discovery could not have happened at a better time. At home I am all out of beer.

The Alhambra is now cooling down in the fridge. This evening, when the heat of the day is easing, I will remove it and pour myself a nice cold pint and propose a toast to the Orvis fishing tackle company.

Cheers.

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I took a picture of myself holding the new fly rod. The rod looks fine, the reel looks dirty (it is) and I look like a gorilla!

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Orvis cleverly put their name on the reel seat and so guys like me give them quite a lot of free advertising!

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Just a matter of time!