Paranormale Diabolique

Watt Chisel – Leader of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt or a consumer magazine for woodworking tools?

In fact, he’s a builder from Basingstoke. What a place. It’s on the rivers Loddon and Lyde. Hampshire’s Serenissima, home to the best wine merchant in the world and the town where my old mum went to school. With the Queen of Denmark. They weren’t taught to read and write or anything but they did learn how to choose a husband just by looking at his tie and how to humanely dispatch a wounded footman.

Paranormale Diabolique


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You’re probably not all that bothered about chisels. What rod, or which rod is more your line of enquiry isn’t it? A witty friend of mine renamed Pezon et Michel’s Parabolic Speciale Normale the Paranormale Diabolique. They were a good looking range of rods and we used their double tipped whipping style on some of our rods, like this Merlin. Only the French could name something special and normal. As an impecunious rod maker in Beaune not long ago, I longed for an affordable red Burgundy with which to wash down my andouillette. They don’t trouble themselves to provide for the humble artisan in the Cote d’Or so I had to make do with a glass of Grand Ordinaire. See, they’ve done it again, the French, with a completely straight face. How can it be both grand and ordinary? Barely drinkable is what it was. The French do all of this without any sense of the absurd. I’m a lapsed francophile and passionate European, but sometimes I can’t help wondering if they have much of a sense of humour.

1,000 year old Boxwood.

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Or perhaps a Kennet Perfection for the Bank Holiday? This one, a special order deluxe example has ferrule stoppers turned from boxwood that my friend Steve assured me was a thousand years old. Steve’s favourite colour is yellow, he enjoys gardening, cooking and counting rings.

How about a 7’6″ #4-weight fly rod to admire as you allow yourself to be transported to a higher state of being by Dawn Upshaw’s soprano on your favourite recording of Górecki’s 3rd Symphony? Here’s a nice one:

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Anyway, I must dash, but to take a look at our website and have a lovely bank holiday weekend.

Best wishes from Edward Barder & Colin Whitehouse