Flat Out Like A Lizard Drinking
By The Ole Hedge Creeper
IWA Germany Nuremberg, my secretary and I flew direct from Bristol landing in Amsterdam then catching a connecting flight to Nuremberg, wow that Amsterdam airport is huge, barely having time to stop for a bathroom break, by that I mean my cable tie was at bursting point, then jumping on our flight, the size of that airport really blew me away it really is massive, I was a little disappointed on our flight from Bristol, there were a large group of lads going over the Amsterdam for a boys trip out, they were very loud and fowl mouthed, I must say how well the staff at KLM dealt with them keeping them calm etc, I will say no wonder other countries don’t like us if that’s the class of British traveller we have, I feel they completely let the side down and made all Bristolians look like complete illiterate morons.
We got to our luxury apartment, WOW the view right over Nuremberg was simply stunning, Burblik our host showed me and Mag’s my secretary about the place, we had 6 bedrooms to choose from for just 2 of us, the apartment was a luxury VIP place normally reserved for very special guests, so I jokingly said well you must of heard of me then expecting Burblik to laugh and say no, to my surprise he said yes you are very famous and why he gave us the penthouse apartment, I asked him jokingly how did you come to the conclusion I was famous, apparently I have a lot of German fans, well bowl me over side ways I know I have a lot of German followers but I never expected that, Burblik was a wonderful host and we have been asked to stay again.
We spent 3 out of 4 days at the IWA, we met up with Air Arms/Jack Pyke/NiteSite and our chums from The British Shooting Show & oh so many more too many to name, the show was awesome as always, I caught up with so many old friends and business colleagues, made some new client and suppliers too.
On the Monday I had other meetings to get too for my Really Wild Adventures Company away from the show, I was actually in Germany on a double edge sword one side was the show the other side Corporate clients that were on my VIP international clients list, all in all a very successful trip all round.
I promised Mag’s some time off and to show her around Nuremberg, one thing my Pappy taught me was to be a man of my word, so true to my word I gave her a guided tour of this ancient city and its castle, we went everywhere and I told her what I knew and discovered a lot I didn’t know, so it was a voyage of discovery for me too as I had been here before, my Pappy always said my boy you could live to be a 101 and still not know enough, as always my Pappy was right, we finished off our last night with a mighty meal and watched the sun set over this wonderful city.
We landed back in Bristol at 5pm and by 6pm we had a kids rifle range set up, I promised the young sports I would not let them down or cancel a range night, as I said true to my word and I will never break my word unless for a very good reason.
I had to leave early from the wake as I had to catch a plane to Scotland to meet up with Tam, as always a warm welcome awaited this honorary Scotsman in my Caledonian (Scotland) home, we all got an early night as we had to catch a plane to Heathrow in the morning so Tam and I could start our Texas adventure.
We caught our flight to Texas 10 hours of flying really took its toll on us both so the first day we just sat about the house chilling out and sleeping, but the next day we went to Chris our hosts motorbike garage, wow there were Harley Davidson’s every were, we met a brilliant couple of guys who work for Chris, who’s nick names were Stretch and Bootleg I never knew their real names, turns out they were members of a bike club called The Booze Fighters, they invited Tam and I to their club house, what an amazing place and such nice people who enjoyed a good laugh, I remember one fellow coming in and walking up to say hello to Stretch, Stretch was so funny and quick witted he said a line I will never forget, as the guy reached out his hand to shake hands Stretch says man you look like I need a drink, I nearly fell off my bar stool laughing, Bootleg and I talked about so many things family and kids etc again a really nice bloke they all were, I also kept my fitness regime up by training with full water containers from the water dispenser.
We met the president of the club a chap called Hyde well that was his knick name anyway, such a lovely man soft spoken and articulate, Tam and him got talking about shooting ranges and how Tam always wanted to try shooting pistols and always wanted to shoot an AR15, so we got invited to go to the Temple shooting range a couple of days later.
At the shooting range we met another chap called Coyote, a quick witted self proclaimed Yanky red neck and ex Vietnam Vet, immediately Tam and Coyote locked horns as Tam was as quick witted too, the rest of us just stood there and enjoyed the show as the two bantered off too each other, mere words wont do it justice but lets just say we were in hysterics listening to this pair.
We started shooting and well Tam’s face in the pic with the AR15 says it all, I was asked would I like a go, well of course I would and lets just say I have not lost my touch with pistols shooting a tight grouping out to a very good distance, the AR15 was something and nothing for me as I enjoy precision shooting and would love to have pitched my 223 up against the AR15, but I loved shooting the Colt 1911 in 45 calibre, what pleased me even more was the groupings I got proving what I was taught as a boy is still in there, its only a crying shame we are not allowed pistols here in the UK, for I may have actually of tried to compete for the country as small arms was always my favourite shooting discipline.
Cabalas, my first time ever in there, we went to the Buda and Waco Stores both in Texas, both stores ever so different but much the same we had an amazing time in there, bought lots of goodies and had a fabulous meal, alas they didn’t do much in the way of calls so not so entertaining for me as Bass Pro although Bass Pro own them now, but still an amazing day out for any Countryman or Huntress.
Bass Fishing with Tommy Cochran at lake Belton, Tommy what a sheer Texan gentleman and awesome fishing guide, we met Tommy at 7.15am and boarded his boat, wow man did that thing fly, we jetted out to where the gulls and turns were diving on the bait fish, we started jigging bt this I mean we dropped a waited minnow jig down to the bottom then started bobbing the rod up and down, Tam says a dollar to the first person to land a fish, we both hooked one at the same time and landed the Bass at the same time so we drew there.
It went a bit quiet there so we moved off to different spots several times catching a few bass here and there, then we hit a spot were the water was bubbling over with fish, it reminded me of mackerel fishing with my Dad and uncle Dave on Chessel beach last year, Tam and I cast and hooked a fish on every cast, Tam caught the biggest fish of the day but I caught the most species, so I say that’s a draw but Tam says otherwise.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures, until the next time all that’s left to say is, arrrrrrr tiz proper job I telle muckers, the bis ava good un.
Flat Out Like lizard Drinking
By The Ole Hedge Creeper