Pond life

 So how's your 2020 going so far? Yeah, same here. 

Thankfully I have been able to continue working throughout lockdown(s) but Mr WithaY has had pretty much everything he does cancelled since February. On the plus side, the dog gets longer walks and the garden has had loads of work done on it.

We have a pond now. Get us. 

We built it last year just in time for our 25th wedding anniversary party, and peopled it (fished it?) with five little koi carp, each about 3 inches long.  

They seemed happy, as much as you can ever tell with fish. Ate their food, swam about, sometimes did acrobatic leaps out of the water for no apparent reason. 

And then, one day, the pond was much less peopled (fished?)  Only one of the five was visible, and he seemed nervous. As if some huge winged predator has swooped in and eaten all his mates. We kept a close eye on things for a week or so, until we had to accept that some bastard bird had been at the fish.

The four missing fish were replaced - the replacements were all about 5 inches long.  The remaining survivor had grown and we didn't want him to bully the newcomers.

All was well. The new fish settled in, the old fish joined in all their antics* and we enjoyed seeing them at feeding time, when they all poked their little noses out of the water for food.

There was an exciting event one hot afternoon when Mr WithaY glanced out of a window to see what he thought was a scrap of plastic flapping about on the gravel around the pond. 

He realised after a few moments that it was not plastic at all, but one of the fish, who'd jumped about in a frolicking manner and fucked it up so badly that he'd landed completely out of the water. 

He** was scooped up and dropped back into the water, apparently unharmed and with a good story to tell his mates.

The original water fountain thing we installed has been replaced with a much larger waterfall, attached to a filter and UV light source to keep the water clean, so we can now see the fish much more clearly.

Unfortunately, so can the herons who live on the nearby river.

A juvenile heron started hanging about, landing on the edge of the pond one day until chased away by Mr WithaY, who immediately found all the fruit netting that used to protect the raspberry bushes from next-door's chickens*** and covered the pond with it. He then found sticks and string to build a complex anti-heron system guaranteed to prevent any fish stealing.

I ordered two large fake herons online (I love the Internet) which stand guard around the pond, probably traumatising the fish every time they look up.

Herons are surprisingly large, and seemingly fearless. If it landed on the back fence, the better to eye up fish for snacking purposes, I would open the back door and try to chase it away. 

It would look at me, clearly thinking "Oh yeah? Come on then, Spartacus," and not move until I was within 3 feet of it. Then it would flap its giant pterodactyl wings and bugger off a few yards into a nearby tree to watch from there. 

This went on for about two weeks, Mr WithaY and I taking turns to "chase" the heron off the fence. The dog refused point blank to go near it, obviously realising that her small soft snout was no match for a massive dagger of a bastard bird beak. 

Finally, having rejigged the pond netting and moved the fake herons around several times, the thing which put it off coming back seems to be the rotary clothesline. I think maybe it takes up valuable flapping space, or limits the amount of landing space or something.

Anyway, the heron seems to have moved to a neighbour's garden (and pond) where he avoids limited space issues by landing on the land outside and sauntering in through their gate.

Other news: Still enjoying my job, still buying far more books than anyone realistically needs.

Our planned road trip to France to visit mother-in-law WithaY had to be cancelled, so we're going to try and arrange something next year instead. All dependent on The Situation, of course.

I've been able to see my lovely sisters a couple of times over the summer but pretty much only in the garden, or in very very small groups, so no family get-togethers, which is sad. Yes, I know that the curtailing of family social events is a very small price to pay, and if that's the worst I have to deal with, then yay, but even so. I miss seeing everyone.

Dog walks have been remarkably sociable, because when you run into a neighbour walking their dog in a field you can stand two metres apart and have a conversation. 

The village pub has been doing its best to stay open, but we haven't ventured in. In fact, apart from work, I think the only places I've been since February are the hairdresser (once), the supermarket, and a fabric shop in Salisbury (once).  I found that so stressful that I've been buying dressmaking supplies online. 

And the petrol station, but only about once a month instead of every two weeks or so.

Life is odd. However, Mr WithaY are both healthy, as are all our families, so we are counting our blessings.

I'm very aware that I am in a slightly higher-risk category due to age, fatness and being female, so I have been perhaps more cautious than some. The winter will be interesting.

I have mastered the fine art of dough cookery! I can now make bread, Chelsea buns and Lardy cake. Hurrah. Also Chinese steamed buns, and wontons, although I bought the wonton wrappers for those.  

Chin up, best foot forward, nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel etcetera etcetera etcetera.

Oh, and today (or tomorrow) hopefully the US election results will be announced and (fingers crossed) at least one part of 2020 will start to feel more positive. 

*swimming, mostly

**The fish. Mr WithaY is too big to scoop.

***No, it really didn't.