He didn't dream. The following morning he awoke refreshed. His mind was already in angler mode. He called room service and ordered his last breakfast in Paris. When it came he poured some hot milk into the insipid coffee and made a cafe lait. He spread butter and orange marmalade on a croissant and put it in his mouth.
As soon as he finished breakfast he began to dress himself for the trip. He toyed with the idea of going to London a little earlier and dropping into Hardys. It wasn't that he wanted to buy any fishing gear, just that Hardys was perhaps the only place where anglers with time on their hands went to relax.
But, Shin didn't stop off in London. He transferred to the shuttle and flew straight to Edinburgh. He took a taxi from Edinburgh airport and headed for the railway station.
British Rail operates between Glasgow and Edinburgh so Shin thought of going to Godfrey's house by Intercity Express. It would be nice to get there early and have lunch together.
When he got to the station, the train which was supposed to be there already had yet to arrive. As ever, British Rail was late. After waiting for about thirty minutes, the train finally arrived. Shin boarded the train, and without any explanation of the delay, the train left. Nobody complained about the inconvenience it had caused them.
After about an hour's journey the train arrived at Lucas. Lucas station certainly couldn't be described as large but, as the world's most famous golf course, St. Andrews, was nearby there were a lot of taxis and buses parked outside to provide convenient access for visitors.
When Shin told Godfrey's address to the taxi driver he turned his steering wheel away from St. Andrews and asked Shin why he'd come to Scotland. Shin explained that he planned to go salmon fishing and the taxi driver threw him a sceptical glance via the back mirror. He said that he'd never met a Japanese salmon fisher before.
After about twenty minutes, they reached the bottom of the slope in front of Godfrey's house. On the right hand side of the house was a garage. This was Godfrey's workshop where he restored cars for a living, out of fishing season. Apparently, he only needed to restore one car a year to make ends meet.
He worked for six months restoring cars and then fished to his heart's content for the rest of the year. On the left of the garage, lower than the road was the house itself. The front door was at the bottom of a flight of stone steps.
Shin asked the driver the time, it was just after twelve. The Scottish are a punctual people. Godfrey was probably washing his hands ready for lunch, thought Shin. And pregnant Dawn, was probably preparing lunch a little slower than usual. What was today's menu, he wondered. Fresh coffee and Dawn's speciality, quiche loraine perhaps. Shin got out of the car and, feeling like he'd finally arrived home, walked down the stone steps towards the front door.
gHi, Godfrey.h
gHi, Shin. What happened?h
gHave you washed you hands already?h
gHa ha ha ha ha. My hands are always clean. You said you were coming this evening, didn't you?h
gYeah, but I was fed up with Paris, so I came earlier.h
Godfrey got up from the table and came over to shake Shin's hand. His wife, Dawn, did the same. Shin kissed her on both cheeks like a Frenchman .
gHey, Shin. that's French style.h
gHa ha ha, I'll stick to Scottish style from now on. How have you been?h
gWe're all well. Dawn, Mary, everybody.h
gThe problem is the weather, isn't it?h
gThat's right. This weather is a crying shame. We haven't had weather like this in ten years. It should have started raining ages ago. Would you like something to drink, Shin?h
gYeah, I'll have a whisky.h
gHe wants whisky, Dawn!h
gI'm just kidding. I'd love a cup of coffee and some quiche though. Dawn's quiche is excellent.h
gAlas, you're the only one who thinks so, Shin.h
gGodfrey, so this week might be a complete write-off?h
gIt's such a shame. The spring run was the same as usual, but it hasn't rained at all since last monthh.
gAnd yet Paris has been flooded by heavy rain. It is hot this year, isn't it?h
gIt is indeed. It's like it's still summer. We usually have rain every day at this time of the year.h
gHow many salmon have you caught so far, Godfrey?h
gAround thirty. There are a fair number of sea trout, but we can't fish during the day in these conditions.h
gOh, come on, are you telling me we're going night fishing after all?h
gShin, I'm really sorry. But I didn't catch anything either, last weekh
gI'd like to take a look at the river anyway. We'll be fishing by that pool downstream, I suppose.h
gEverywhere is satheme. Tell me where you'd like to go and I'll take you there. Last week an Englishman was here but he went straight back to London because there were no fish."
gNone at all?h
gWell, he caught two sea trout on the first day but nothing after that.h
Shin got into Godfrey's car and they headed for the river.
The sun was dazzling and the heat reminded Shin of midsummer in Japan.
After a five minute drive they arrived at the river. The trees on either side of the river were thick with green leaves that glistened in the sunlight. It seemed that Autumn was still a long way off.
The river was dead, the riverbed mercilessly exposed. Water flowers floated in the pools and a green line ran around the edge of each pool, just like a drought-stricken Japanese dam. The dry, listless river was starving to death. It was a truly miserable sight.
gGodfrey, this is terrible!h
gIt's a shame. We can't fish in a river like this.h
gLet's go. Let's drop by Mary's cottage for a sherryh, urged
Shin and began to walk in the direction of the car. As he did so he caught sight of the bodies of countless mayflies and caddis flies floating by the riverbank.
gGodfrey, why are so many insects dying?h
gIt's strange. They suddenly started dying last week, in unusually high numbers. There's so little water in the river that the water temperature has risen too high and killed them all, I suppose. Those weeds over there should be dead already but they're still growing, as if it were the middle of
summer.h
Godfrey pointed to a plant called the hogweed growing among the bushes on the riverbank. It was about one and a half metres in height and was covered in big leaves that resembled those of the fatsia plant.
There were prickleson the leaves and in those prickles was poison.
Godfrey explained that if you were to accidentally touch it, you would be in pain for a week and the sting would swell into a hard lump around five centimetres in diameter. It was so poisonous that, in severe cases, a sting to the fingertip could cause your entire forearm to swell up.
The seeds of this plant were allegedly brought to the British Isles by accident from colonial India along with a shipment of jute. And those seeds, favouring the cold hillsides of Scotland, took root. The hogweed alone wasthriving in the abnormal weather conditions.
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