Outdoor life is getting too much for an elderly man as he eats his sandwich and contemplates his wildlife adversaries. A fish tangles his line and ties his shoelaces together while seagulls help themselves to his beanie pompom and caught fish.

Fishing has never been a favourite pastime of mine. Not for any of the reasons pictured in this angler mismanagement scene, though it could be attributed to an accumulation of unpleasant fishing experiences including never catching anything significant.

One thing I did enjoy was yabbying. There seemed to be an endless supply in the dam where I was and they were being caught (by hand) at a steady rate. Only a little meat tied to a length of fishing line was used to entice the yabbies. Once cast out, the line was pulled slowly in, invariably with a yabby attached. Then it was just a matter of getting close enough to reach in behind and scoop each out on to land.

The most difficult bit was the subsequent detaching of the pincers from the grass where the yabbies landed. Some were inadvertently deposited into holes made by cows hooves and made retrieval all the more difficult because there was less space available to reach behind their heads for pick-up without being pinched.

In looking at resource images, I found and enjoyed many images of seagulls absconding with chips, ice-creams, hamburgers or whatever other food they could lay claim to from passersby.

I had drawn this guy intentionally without a pompom on his beanie. At the last moment, I thought a nearby seagull could have it in its beak just to further this guy’s misery. He is obviously a novice at fishing anyway because his rod is very basic, with no reel.

You may be forgiven for thinking that the fish at the fisherman’s feet is attempting to assist him by tying his shoelaces. Rest assured, knots are being tied there. Fish don’t know how to tie shoelaces.