Mort à la Lorikeet Lane

laying the Koi to rest
That’s Peter in there digging a very deep hole. Swim on to the great Koi pond in the sky little guy …

Two weeks in and we have had our first mortality. What the hell does one do with a huge and very dead Koi fish? Every morning since we’ve moved in, I’ve gone out and fed them, checked on them, made sure their filter was on and counted them, This morning one of the huge gold ones was bobbing on the surface in a sideways formation while the other fish circled underneath. 

It’s hard to say if it was old age or if some human error was involved but this fish was definitely D.E.A.D. I wondered would it be so wrong to bury the Koi beside the dead cat?(We found a mini tombstone statue and a card in the garden dedicated to the deceased cat of the previous owners). Perhaps that would be a bit insensitive.

Mr P did the honours. Watching him dig a hole for the unfortunate fish was a sombre affair. I felt sad somehow even though I wasn’t particularly attached to the Koi – we had inherited them and just did the right thing by them (we thought). There was a weight – a substance – to the fish that made me feel for the life that was no more. If you look at the photograph opposite you can see it laid out on the ground. Poor thing.

The death toll rose further that morning with the discovery of a tiny baby gecko on the garage floor. It was perfect – perfectly flat. Peter had excitedly called me to look at it thinking it was alive.  He then felt awful when I pointed out it wasn’t moving and appeared to be dead.

Well – I guess that’s the circle of life. I can’t get too sentimental over a fish and a baby gecko if I’m going to make a go of it in the great outdoors.

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