Fishing baskets

An 18th century definition of a fisherman is "A stick and a string with a fly at one end and a fool at the other". As a fisherman for most of my life I'd tend to agree. My thoughts today are about fishing and how I miss the streams and rivers of Britain, yet I live within walking distance of a lake heaving with fish, but because they're not the right sort of fish, I ignore them, more fool me.

I've just finished a very good fishing book and I'm on a high, so the next best thing to sitting next to a river, in the rain, not catching fish, is to clean and inspect my fishing tackle. It's all contained in the willow baskets above. The small semi circular basket is a french trout creel, very pretty but useless for fishing. The large basket I've owned for about 20 years and is my current favourite. The small one on the right is probably older than me, I used it for many years from the age of 10, but it's retired now because it's got a wobbly leg.

Anyway, before you fall asleep, the point of this post is: Fishing baskets are great for storage, they're quirky, look good and can hide all sorts of things like dirty linen. There are craftspeople who still make them - look here - but they're expensive. If you keep your eyes open you can pick old ones up cheap. I bought the french creel 3 years ago for 4 euros!

Convenience shopping in the villages of Spain

Saleres, Andalucia

The village above is typical of small villages all over southern Europe. 40 years ago it had a population of about 700 people. 20 years ago that population had shrunk to 400 and today the population stands at about 250, and shrinking.

The reasons, as far as I can see, is that young people want (amongst other things), careers and move to cities. The villages are populated by older people, there are very few young families.

There are advantages and disadvantages to a shrinking population. For someone like me who was born and lived in large cities, empty villages are great. However, one of the disadvantages of a small population is that it can't support things that most people consider essential for normal living.

My village, not far from Saleres, has a population of about 350 people and seems to maintain this level. It has 2 small shops, 1 bank, 1 bakery, 2 bars/restaurants. There's a small community and health centre and a very big church.

It seems that 300 people is the required minimum for a shop to break even in a village.

Saleres, with its smaller population of 250 doesn't have any shops. It used to have a very small bar until a few years ago, but now there are no community facilities except for another big church.

The majority of people in these villages don't have cars, so how do they buy food?

Thankfully, we have a thriving delivery service. I lay in bed last night thinking of the vans that service our villages each day. It was a bit like counting sheep and I dropped off dreaming of buying eggs.

Fish delivery by motorbike

Fish delivery by van

The baker

Egg delivery

A list of deliveries to the villages

• A general grocery van visits the village once a week
• The knife grinder appears about every 3 months
• A man who repairs cane chairs turns up every year (I missed him last year)
• All the villages have a market one day a week. These sell clothes, cutlery, cups, glasses, crockery etc.
• 4 bakers deliver bread and cakes each day, except Sunday
• 2 fishmongers deliver fresh fish every day, except Sunday and Monday
• Fruit and vegetables delivered 3 times a week
• Cheese and cooked meats once a week
• Home produced wine is delivered on Sunday
• Beer is delivered in a crate to your door once a week
• Eggs are delivered once a week.

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