 Bowling remembers the slow and painful decline of his father's seed business – resulting from the nearby establishment of corporate competition.This painful memory seems to have sensitised him to – and given him a repugnance for – what he sees as the marching ravages of "Progress".The final disappointment is to find that the estate where he used to fish has been built over, and the secluded and once hidden pond that contained the huge carp he always intended to take on with his fishing rod, but never got around to, has become a rubbish dump.