Happy again, now. Just thought what I'd been up to 'today' (during the course of Saturday daytime) and remembered I've took a shot of one of my new Flektarn shirts.
Flektarn. I love this shit! It's the German stuff, and it's about as different from ye bog standard (and now very standardised) NATO DPM as it gets. Even the Irish Army gets to wander about in the sort of thing your lot wear. The ubiquitous, broad brush strokes, green, beige and black stuff. Standard issue.
Now, I'm sure that stuff's ok in a Europen hedgerow? One lot of guys, in one hedge, trying to spot another bunch of guys in another hedge, some way off? Fuck it. Just 'Hose' the hedge, I guess? But that's army stuff.
I don't actually lurk in many hedges. I have to sneak out of hedges and cross up to hundereds of yards of good old, traditional, Leitrim " Rough Upland Pasture ". What you ~ and I! ~ would probably call " Bog ". (Ye certainly would, if ye ever tried laying down in it!)
Here's some:
See how the browns predominate? This is why I don't really prefer the usual stuff myself. And as for Real Tree? My god! It makes me laugh, first day of the season, to see all the local lads standing around in the pub. All decked out in their finest livid greens and gray branches! Again, I'm sure that stuff's the Dogs, if ye standing about in some deciduous wood somewhere? Only, there's precious little deciduous woods round here.
So I chose this:
I really like this stuff. And I've looked at every cammo available out there too. In my view, nothing quite matches Juncus rush like the old, German Flektarn. Especially when ye consider much of what concerns me is avian. I truly feel this pattern is best for what Juncus must look like from above.
I got my kit, today. Dean O' and I drove right up to Ballyconnall (I think that's about how it's spelled. I never even noticed the road signs and Dean isn't so strong on spelling. North side of Balinamore anyway. Near the border) There's a shop there called The Trading Post. And this is one place people like us should have on our itinary, if ever in the area.
It's largely Army Surplus. But, as is usual with such business's, they stock allied sorts of ranges. Clothing, that is. Only it's definetely fine tuned toward the sort of person who comes into Army Surplus stores in the first place. Cool shop.
Lovely young lady in there too. Very helpful and happy to be so. Without her help I wouldn't have discovered half the shop, let alone the stuff I pulled out of the walls of box shelves! It's directly thanks to her that I discovered what'll probably become one of my best loved jackets. Dean O' bought one two. Great jackets! Flektarn, naturally!
I also found just the bag I've been looking for. Genuine, army issue. Maybe Irish Army? I've certainly never seen one before. But it's just what I wanted, to carry my bits and pieces in when I go out. And somewhere to discretely put anything remove from the land. I think I'll call it my 'Cat Bag'.
But, then came the totting up of all the stuff I'd freely piled onto the counter. Two pairs of strides. Two shirts. A jacket. A Bod' Warmer. My bag. A belt and a cammo scrim. No matter. I had £200 in my pocket and there was a hole in the wall right over the road.
That's when I personally experienced the almost embaressing genorosity of this place, which Dead O' had actually mentioned on the run out there; " Well, " she grinned, " I'm giving ye the scrim, the belt and that bag, so well suited to dead cat conveyance ..... " (?!) " So, the shirts, trousers, body warmer and jacket ....? £170. Oh, and here's a pair of excellent socks each! "
I Defy Ye to beat that! Good god, only a few weeks ago I wanted to buy One jacket, pair of strides and a bod' warmer, in some gun shop? That came to £270! And he didn't take plastic?! And the nearest bank was twenty miles away! I walked out of there, empty handed. His loss. But, as I said to the taxi driver who'd ferried me all the way out there (" Trapper Johns ", this was); " There's always a Reason for things. I'll find my new kit yet. "
I found it. At The Trading Post. Ballyconnall. I suspect it Might be up and over in Co. Cavan? Just north of Ballinamore, anyway. Check it out, if ye ever in the area. Highly Recommended.
