The Goldfish Story

Greetings. So here’s a story and you know how much I like telling stories.

Last Saturday I casually went about my day. There were errands to be done. I also wanted to stop by the Art shop to stock up on watercolour paper. On my way there, I saw that one of the local vintage shops in Islington had a respectable queue of people outside and a big banner saying: Sale!

Intrigued, I approached a woman and inquired whether the shop is closing down. “Oh, no, the reply came. Twice a year they have a sale where everything they display in the shop that day costs £1.”

I looked at the time. It was 11.58am and the shop opened at midday. What would you have done? Well, I thought, I have nothing to loose. I’ll go inside, have a quick rummage around, satisfy my curiosity and then continue with my day.

I had no expectations or big hopes. Midday came, the shop opened and a heap of women fell upon the goods. I calmly stood at one side observing everyone while they frantically chose items. At a far corner I spotted an amber vessel. It measured around 30×25 cm, so a decent size and, to my surprise, no one seemed to be interested in it. I waited for things to calm down a little, for people to disperse and then strategically made my move!

I thought this was a fine purchase for Colourliving HQ do you agree? I bought another amber small stem vase but that’s for another story for another day:-)

So, as the queue at the till was rather long I reserved my vessel by paying for it and went on to do my errands. On my return and an empty shop (yay), I chatted to the guys who were wrapping my new purchase in newspaper. “So, what will you put in it?” one of them asked me. “Err, I don’t know yet, maybe a plant…” came my reply. I was also secretly thinking about a Terrarium… ” I kind of think it would lend itself as a home for goldfish” one of the guys muttered.

And an idea was born. I have never ever before thought about either having a pet (difficult in a small London flat with being out a lot), let alone some goldfish. I was on a mission, starting with finding the nearest pet shop.

Once located I asked the shop assistant to give me a tutorial of how to keep goldfish and not let them die. You might laugh at this, dear readers, but like keeping plants alive I believe there is knowledge and certain skills involved. After a lengthy tutorial, involving instructions on how not to place the bowl near a radiator, not let any sunshine come through, not to overfeed, to regularly change the water et cetera, I made my way home with my new buddies.

First things first. You have to wash the gravel. Like the colour? The choice was between neon pink or yellow! Oh, and forgive me, but I just had to do an artistic shot here.

Next, you need some greens for Oxygen and voilà, the goldfish have a ‘home’. Now, traditionally people use clear glass bowls so they can see their swimming pets. I rather like my tinted version. Firstly it goes with the Colourliving decor but I also figured that it must be quite nice for my new companions to see the world through tinted lenses.

Meet Rupert and Clarissa (actually I don’t know their sex:-)

So far, so good. They are firmly installed in my office space. I know how and when to feed them, I know how to clean out the water and hopefully I will manage to look after them… wish me luck.

I would very much appreciate any tips, tricks, anecdotes or generally some advice. Have a great weekend. See you Monday x