Rules of engagement

We live now in a digital age where connections, purchases and acknowledgements are a click away. But I find there is a quite satisfaction in doing things the old way.

This was the case with my new club ticket. Having collected the application form from a local tackle shop (I had to travel further, see Mergers & Monopolies) I sat down to read the terms and conditions.

In keeping with the digital world I could have visited the club website and downloaded the pdf, filled it in on the laptop, downloaded some software to resized a my mug shot, paid via PayPal, and wizzed it off into the ether and wait.

Confronted with numerous digital hurdles – eg installing software and what’s my PayPal password – I decided to go old school and found myself reminiscing about old club waters I fished as a kid. There was also a greater sense of connection and engagement with the process as I took pen to paper, trimmed an old passport picture down to size gluing it to the form, and finally digging out envelopes and stamps before dropped my application in a bright red post box.

I doubt the process was any slower than if I had done it online but the feel good factor was definitely higher. There was a physicality and tactical quality to the mornings work that would hopefully be repeated respectively lakeside as I get to grips with the new venues and the scaley residents this summer.

Tightlines and offline.