I have a mantra when it comes to competition.

"Win with grace, lose with grace."

It applies to the world of work and sport (though not if your name is Brian Moore) and even shooting.

Not six days ago, me and a couple of fellows did a spot of clay pigeon shooting during a friend's stag weekend in Blackpool.

We were all fresh from a good night's sleep and the icy gusts from the Irish Sea certainly kept us alert.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, despite my superior experience, I didn't win the competition at the end of the day.

I lost by some way in fact.

In my darkest hours since I have been tempted to draw the conclusion that the rascals must have a) had lessons before hand b) have military experience, or c) telepathically fiddled with the shotgun, a beautiful Winchester, when it was my turn to use it.  

Thankfully, I didn't launch into a massive strop because they had, in
fact, shot better than I did and deserved a higher ranking. Accepted defeat I have, and I will live with it. 

The boys have expressed an interest in a simulated day in the summer months. If I shoot poorly there, just before the season is about to begin it will be an irremovable stain on my career.

On last night's episode of The Apprentice, some of the lad's team were shining shoes at Kings Cross St Pancras station. They all look like bad losers to me, but if I repeat my Blackpool show, they'll have competition on the platform when they get fired!  

Driving home from the football last night I experienced a strange first. We won, but that's not what was so strange. As my party and I drove from south Wales across the Midlands towards the M1, a thick fog suddenly descended on the motorway, engulfing the car and everything around it.

The sight was almost ghostly, the fog disappearing and reappearing on cue at one-mile intervals. At one point, we found ourselves crawling along at no more than 20 mph, and outside the car, the motorway was silent. Had the car been swallowed up into some other dimension? Those cars we did see around us were out of sight but only until their drivers pushed down on their breaks.

Luckily we were able to press on with our journey and reached our destination unscathed, but it got me to thinking, what weather has forced our readers off the peg? Has fog cancelled your shoot day, has belting rain beaten you back to the lodge, or thunder and lightning sent you running for cover?

To share your tales of when the weather has forced you from your peg or pound seat, click the button below marked comment and let us know!

Always the same isn’t it? The season ends, and what do I see as I go about my day in rural England?

Pheasants. Everywhere. Plump, bold, cock pheasants, on the A1 as I wind my way out of Stamford and up towards Nottinghamshire.

There are a number of estates which the dual carriage way cuts through, and, more often than not, when there is a dip in the road down towards a natural plain in the landscape, you’ll find the odd bird gliding across the road.

Now, obviously, I keep my eyes on the road at all times, but it’s hard not to catch them in my peripheral vision. It makes me smile.

They’ve been through some experiences during the season, these birds.  

They’ve have eaten like kings and queens for the past nine months and will be sunning themselves in the summer. If we get one.

It also says something for the keepering on the estates, given how high they get and how well they fly.

Unfortunately, accidents do happen, and as the summer months come around, I know that I’ll see more and more pheasants on the side of the road.
 
These will be experienced birds and those who are still learning to fly, trying to cross a gap that is just too much for them.

I often find myself encouraging pheasants over the roads when I see them glide across my eye line.

Even though I’m not looking at them, I can be heard shouting “Go on, go, on, get over, don’t look at me, get over……..yesssss!”

Ultimately, every time I see a cock bird, it always makes me think of the season just gone and the ocean of time left until the next one starts. I’m missing shooting something chronic.

Still, it looks like City will make the play offs, and that’s something.