The old men sat in quiet comradery, sipping tall glasses of lager and reminiscing.
“Did I tell you about the time I caught a shark?” asked Jack.
The assembled company sighed. They’d heard it before and didn’t believe anymore upon its frequent retelling.
“I was fishing at the pier, when all of a sudden my line went taut. It was fierce battle between man and beast. My muscles strained, my arms ached, but the same fighting spirit that got me through the war prevailed. After an hour of this, I reeled it in. A foul-smelling man-eater.”
They rolled their eyes. “Your round, Jack.”
I heard this story quite often at my Grandpa’s knee. I admit, that I didn’t believe it. It was a fishy story. And then I found this photo. Sorry Gramps. You did catch a shark.
The Blurred Line 
My father was a grand story teller and I never want to know which ones were fiction. Great story.
Tracey
Thank you so much
Truth is always stranger than fiction, which this photo certainly is. It looks like a bigger shark is taking grandpa’s catch away from him!
Wonderful photo and story 🙂
Thank you
No matter how great a fishy tale, there’s a limit to the number of times you need to hear it. At least it was fact, not fantasy!
Some tall tales are true, of course
But slightly embellished.
Whoa! That’s a FISH!!!!! (well, a shark, but still …) 😉 Better dead than man-eating!
It was quite a catch.
Great tale. We never know if it’s true or not.
Thank you
Great discovery in finding the photograph. When people achieve remarkable things, there are always those who need proof.
I feel very ashamed that I ever doubted him.
He gets to tell his story. They get his beer, Fair exchange
With my Grandpa it always was.
He caught a shark? In East London? Well, a whale recently made it up the Thames … Love the tall tale found to be fact. Great stuff
Oh Lynn, my guess it is East London in Cape province, South Africa. Although from what I know of the town on the Thames there are a few sharks there too!
You’re right here. This was taken in East London in South Africa.
Haha! How daft of me 🙂 But as you say, there are a fair few sharks in London. They seem to gather around the City and Westminster, mainly 🙂