Return of the fishes
Woke up at five this morning. Eventually, got out of bed and did some work.
After a brief snooze later, Lorraine and I went for breakfast with Brian, Anna, Anton and the children to Bill's: a great place for Sunday breakfast. Lovely fresh fruit juices of their own devising, and handfuls of herbs decorating each plate of high quality breakfast snap. Anton, Brian and myself feeling a little subdued, but it was lovely to see Anna and the children. Klaudia is starting school next week, and this is hard to imagine. She told me she likes Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and I enjoyed seeing her plop a tomato, which Oskar had been playing with alongside his Wall-e toy, into Anton's juice.
Walked home from Bill's with Klaudia on my shoulders, which was surprisingly tiring. As we progressed, Klaudia made up a song which went "nose on your head... you're dead!" (repeat x50). At my place I gave my Godbairns some small wooden turtles I bought in Crete.
When everyone left, and with Lorraine's prompting, I dragged a big aquarium out from under my stairs and to decide whether I should set it up. I have been browsing the Practical Fishkeeping website a lot lately. We went with Beth and Mark, to Maidenhead Aquatics shop (a well known chain of fish shops) near Ferring I felt the ghastly yearning for fish started again. Until recent years I have kept fish off and on since I was about 10. I have a hobbyist's deep knowledge.
Looking at all the tanks full of familiar jewel-like fish, and more beautiful discus than I had ever seen in one place. It took me back to being ten again, and living in Neasden and then Kingsbury in North London, and walking up to Blackbird's Cross to the first fish shop I used to haunt. It was owned by a rather taciturn man who grew to recognise me, as I would spend hours in his small shop, which I think was called Pets Galore, transfixed by the two rooms of fish tanks, and plotting which would be the next member of my community aquarium. I seem to remember him offering me a cup of tea during one day of particularly absorbed browsing. Then the trip home on a bus (so I could get home as quickly as possible) with a plastic bag in a brown paper bag, with two or three fish twitching inside it - and me anxious to get them home as soon as I could.
The last time I kept fish I returned home to a disaster. There was a horrible smell in the house, which I traced to the aquarium, a lovely one, established for about three years. What I found however, was a tank full of evil smelling chowder. The thermostat had mysteriously malfunctioned and the heater had been heating the water continuously all day. This memory is sufficiently faded now for me to now be considering setting up another aquarium.
After the fish trip Lorraine dropped me off home, and I pootled down to LA Fitness for a swym (in a gym).
Home and I finished Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. I really liked this book, which was about a man with a personality disorder. Curiously gripping, and also rather sad. I found it a real page turner (despite listening to it as an audiobook).
Below I was sitting opposite Oskar at Bill's, and snapped this. The tomato ending up in Anton's juice a few minutes later. Klaudia and Oskar on my stripy one and half person chair, looking blurry in the slow shutter speed.
Woke up at five this morning. Eventually, got out of bed and did some work.
After a brief snooze later, Lorraine and I went for breakfast with Brian, Anna, Anton and the children to Bill's: a great place for Sunday breakfast. Lovely fresh fruit juices of their own devising, and handfuls of herbs decorating each plate of high quality breakfast snap. Anton, Brian and myself feeling a little subdued, but it was lovely to see Anna and the children. Klaudia is starting school next week, and this is hard to imagine. She told me she likes Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and I enjoyed seeing her plop a tomato, which Oskar had been playing with alongside his Wall-e toy, into Anton's juice.
Walked home from Bill's with Klaudia on my shoulders, which was surprisingly tiring. As we progressed, Klaudia made up a song which went "nose on your head... you're dead!" (repeat x50). At my place I gave my Godbairns some small wooden turtles I bought in Crete.
When everyone left, and with Lorraine's prompting, I dragged a big aquarium out from under my stairs and to decide whether I should set it up. I have been browsing the Practical Fishkeeping website a lot lately. We went with Beth and Mark, to Maidenhead Aquatics shop (a well known chain of fish shops) near Ferring I felt the ghastly yearning for fish started again. Until recent years I have kept fish off and on since I was about 10. I have a hobbyist's deep knowledge.
Looking at all the tanks full of familiar jewel-like fish, and more beautiful discus than I had ever seen in one place. It took me back to being ten again, and living in Neasden and then Kingsbury in North London, and walking up to Blackbird's Cross to the first fish shop I used to haunt. It was owned by a rather taciturn man who grew to recognise me, as I would spend hours in his small shop, which I think was called Pets Galore, transfixed by the two rooms of fish tanks, and plotting which would be the next member of my community aquarium. I seem to remember him offering me a cup of tea during one day of particularly absorbed browsing. Then the trip home on a bus (so I could get home as quickly as possible) with a plastic bag in a brown paper bag, with two or three fish twitching inside it - and me anxious to get them home as soon as I could.
The last time I kept fish I returned home to a disaster. There was a horrible smell in the house, which I traced to the aquarium, a lovely one, established for about three years. What I found however, was a tank full of evil smelling chowder. The thermostat had mysteriously malfunctioned and the heater had been heating the water continuously all day. This memory is sufficiently faded now for me to now be considering setting up another aquarium.
After the fish trip Lorraine dropped me off home, and I pootled down to LA Fitness for a swym (in a gym).
Home and I finished Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. I really liked this book, which was about a man with a personality disorder. Curiously gripping, and also rather sad. I found it a real page turner (despite listening to it as an audiobook).
Below I was sitting opposite Oskar at Bill's, and snapped this. The tomato ending up in Anton's juice a few minutes later. Klaudia and Oskar on my stripy one and half person chair, looking blurry in the slow shutter speed.
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