Chorbo Dog Foods, Rifle Street, London E.14

Once upon a time in Arcadia, namely in February in the year of our Lord and other curses 1958 before we ever had it so good ladies and gentlemen were invited to a stand at Site 107 in the National Hall to witness the marriage between Economy, High Protein and Complete Nutrition in the form of Chorbo Dog Food, made in vats at an address in Rifle Street in Poplar in the district of London known as E.14.

In Arcadia the period we are now experiencing shall forthwith be known as the Chorbo Years when many are forced to eat a diet that blends Economy, High Protein and Complete Nurition.  In honour of this and of course with the blessing of the Terriers of Arcadia you are invited to brighten your lives by visiting my stall at Spitalfields Antiques Market in Commercial Street in the district of London known as E.1 where on Thursdays only between the hours of 8am and 3pm I sell Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul and perpetuate the crossover between East End Dog Food Manufacturers and the Post-War Fishing Years.

Found

Found amongst the tackle bought yesterday at Kempton a surviving 3 1/2" "Fishing Gazette" Float with the footprint of its label barely visible and its plug having been discarded.

Kempton

Bought at Kempton from one of the staunch on a bleak morning a box posted by Registered Royal  Mail with a wax seal on 1st May 1914 at Cannon Street Post Office to H.S. Tee Esq of Pine Corner.  The box originally contained spectacles from Field & Sons of 76 Queen Victoria Street in the district of London known as E.C.4 but was later re-used to house fishing tackle.

A Week in Arcadia

Once upon a time in Arcadia, almost this very week last year I wrote a diary piece for Caught by the River called A Week in Arcadia.  It has now been included in the latest edition of An Antidote to Indifference - A Year of Antidotes from Caught by the River alongside my staunch collaborators Mr. Neil R. Thomson - 'I have of late begun to believe in ghosts',  Mr Will Burns - Poet Laureate in Arcadia, Mrs. Melissa Harrison - Author of Clay, Mr. Dexter Petley - 'it's been a while now, all roads lead to winter, I trust fat chesnuts splitten on your brazier as you rub the goose fat on December's pike bungs and put mud flaps on the Vanguard', Mr. Mathew Clayton - 'One morning in October I looked across the garden and saw that the big apple tree was in trouble', Mr. Charles Rangeley-Wilson - 'The day was a strange mix of invigorating can do-ism and enervating Orwellian double-speak',  Mr. Jon Berry - 'If one journey typified the travels of adventurous Victorians, it was the grand tour of Scotland' and Miss Virginia Astley 'I am spending the summer as a lock-keeper's assistant',  to mention, oh, but a few.  You may buy it now for the sum of £3 from street urchins, market stalls, bookshops, public house bars and via your telescreen at Caught by the River.

Mr. Charrington's

Found on a cold afternoon in the recesses of Mr. Charrington's Antiques Shop and now residing for sale in 'Old Friends' a couple of pieces of Terrier and Dog Food Factory Ephemera from the decade known as the Fifties.

Lost in London

You are invited to get lost with me within the pages of a new book 'Lost in London', created by Lucy Scott and Tina Smith of the eponymous magazine where I have written a piece entitled 'An Angler's Year' which is illustrated by the artist Clementine Mitchell.   'Lost in London' is published in hardback by Portico and you will find it soon on bookshelves and tables in bookshops across the capital.  Those seeking early editions should make haste to Foyles on the Charing Cross Road where there are said to be copies exchanging hands.

Spitalfields

Bought yesterday at Spitalfields whilst on a circuit of the market to keep the blood from freezing a relic from the Festival of Tin - 'The Wilco' No. 2151 containing an Assortment of Shot Caps & Plummet from Henry Wilkes & Co. of Studley in Redditch.

Richard Forshaw - Palace Warehouses, Marsh Lane, Bootle, Liverpool 20

Once upon a time in Arcadia, most probably on a Baltic Thursday, ladies and gentleman in urgent need of a packet of Rubber Float Caps with which to attach their porcupine or peacock quill floats to gut might chivvy their local tackle dealer to order a packet from Forshaws in Liverpool.  There, in the aptly named Palace Warehouses packets of Rubber Float Caps and other Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul was busily packed into crates and sent around the Empire.

Should you be a lady or a gentleman in need of a packet of Rubber Float Caps or indeed in need of any other kind of angling accessory or acoutrement known widely as Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul you are advised that you may chivvy me at my stall in Spitalfields where on Thursdays between 8am and 3pm  I stand in memory of all those who packed at Palace Warehouses for Richard Forshaw.  Thank-you.

Hans H. Thaulow's Norwegian Killers

Ephemera advertising a range of Norwegian Killers made by the hand of Hans H. Thaulow in the decade known as the Sixties. For immediate sale at the counter of my website known as Just in, Sir!

Traps and Boxes

Found at auctions On the Road to Freelance Island a selection of traps and boxes designed to catch and store bait for the purposes of pursuing perch and trout.  For immediate sale to those with an appetite for the rites of spring in the back room of my website known as 'Old Friends'.

Camp Freddie meets John Courage Uptown

Found by a Bugler on duty in his local hostelry on the South Coast, a beermat for the soul, featuring a camp depiction of a roach.  For sale Under the Counter  in honour of the monster of 3lb 13oz that was captured recently from a flash leading into the River Thames.  Proceeds shall be drunk accordingly at a riverside public house.

Spitalfields

Bought yesterday from a gentleman of taste in curiosities an empty ashtray from the decade known as the 1930's featuring a Terrier from Arcadia and a gentleman of taste in the sartorial.   For immediate sale to hedonists and dreamers in the backwater of my website known as 'Under the Counter, Madam'.

The Feast of St. Valentine

Once upon a time in Arcadia, indeed on this day in the year of our Lord and other curses 2013 known widely as the Feast of St. Valentine, ladies and gentlemen may find themselves asking if they are using the right bait.  If you are a lady or a gentleman and are in search of the right bait for purposes of courting and affection you are advised that on occasion a well chosen item of Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul bought from my stall at Spitalfields Antiques Market - which is open to passers-by as well as regulars from the hours of 8am and 3pm on Thursdays only - often illicits pleasure in the recipient.

The "Norwegian"

Found at an auction Beyond the Outskirts of Pandemonium and for immediate sale at the 'Just in, Sir!' counter of my website a Hardy "Norwegian" in the narrow pattern.

Kemptonarnia

Found under a gun metal grey sky this morning at Kemptonarnia, a permit for Wimbledon Park Angling Club who were founded on the 11th July in the year of Arcadia 1948.  Affiliated to the London Anglers' Association, Wimbledon Park held with NO HEMP, frowned upon picknickers  and restricted membership to no more than 80.

Country

A return to London North through the snow after a night of old manners and customs high up in the woods - amid country - courtesy of a distant branch of the Arcadia Transport Executive.

In Subtopia

Up with the crows and after a couple pots of tea drunk trawlerman style it is off to a Saturday Auction In Subtopia.  A journey down sodium lit streets not dissimilar to the one taken last week with my old cove the photographer Mr. Jim Eyre whose new work can be seen in full at his online archive here.

Spitalfields

Bought at Spitalfields yesterday from a gentlemen of distinction and taste a reed bass bag stamped 'Trout from Grafham Water'.