![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5986-768x1024.jpeg?resize=525%2C700&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nAs is often the case, a bit of time and distance has given me some perspective about my pond issues.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still sad that so many fish have died, but my dance teacher, who lives in Island Bay, told me this evening that she knows five families who have lost everything they own in the deluge last Monday. (We had major flooding in certain very localised areas of Wellington earlier this week). So, that would be really tough. I\u2019m not up for debating a life versus possessions just now, but in any event the stress for those families must be brutal.<\/p>\n
In the end I have begged our builder to help out with the pond. I can tell he\u2019s a bit reluctant, as it\u2019s not his area of expertise, but considering we\u2019ve probably put all his kids through school with the amount of money we\u2019ve spent on him fixing our house over recent years, I think he feels some obligation to help us out. He tells me he came and cleaned out the pump today, which was filthy, and his electrician is going to come and check the wiring out tomorrow. At the worst the pond will just need a replacement pump which doesn\u2019t sound like it should be too difficult, surely? So, fingers crossed that the pond will be restored to good health soon. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s too late for Mudwiggle. I couldn\u2019t see him when I had a look this afternoon, but I\u2019ve left a food block in there for him just in case.
\nOther positive developments today were the discovery of a toilet out the back of our department, near the lifts. Clearly it\u2019s been there for years and I just haven\u2019t been observant enough to notice it.
\nThis is good news because it\u2019s always nice to have a proper Poo Loo in your workplace.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To top it all off, in my dance class this evening we were finally introduced to the Tango, which is very exciting. It\u2019s a chance to be a drama queen, and the steps aren\u2019t even too hard (so far).<\/p>\n As is often the case, a bit of time and distance has given me some perspective about my pond issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3lX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12887,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/pond-update-april-22\/","url_meta":{"origin":12893,"position":0},"title":"Death Fish","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, things have gone from bad to worse. I came back after the weekend away to find the two new little fish had died. Since they were nameless and unbaptised, they will remain forever in purgatory (or is it some other in-between place? My theology is a bit rusty on\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/pond-update-april-22\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5966-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12984,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/pond-update-end-of-may\/","url_meta":{"origin":12893,"position":1},"title":"Pond update end of May","author":"Interloper11","date":"May 31, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The mystery mass die-off appears to have ended. We never managed to find a pond expert to come and sort us out, but in lieu of that, our very game builder did his best. Apparently he joined several \u00a0Facebook pond interest groups and everything. The most obvious problem was that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_6084-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_6084-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_6084-1024x768.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1457,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/08\/pond-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":12893,"position":2},"title":"Death Fish","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"One of our pets has gone missing. Quasi, short for Quasimodo, named for his rather misshapen physique, is an ugly googly eyed black goldfish, although he does (did) have a rather lovely swishy long tail. You\u2019d think there aren\u2019t many places a goldfish could wander off to in a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/B3856888-358C-4806-8B15-15C1ECA5ADE7-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12365,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/26\/pond-update-october-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":12893,"position":3},"title":"Pond update October \u201925","author":"Interloper11","date":"October 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Our goldfish count reached a nadir of two some months ago with the mysterious disappearance of the pale and ethereal Edward. It really is a head scratcher. Where did he go? It\u2019s not like he could have popped out for a quick walk and got lost. And if he\u2019d died,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_4011-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12841,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/pond-update-april-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":12893,"position":4},"title":"Pond update April 2026","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"In an act of the purest optimism, we have replaced Fanny the goldfish RIP with two new fish. This in spite of the fact that the pond is still somewhat murky and we haven\u2019t really got to the bottom of the unpopular fish food. The story goes like this: I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5871-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5871-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5871-1024x768.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7470,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/30\/rip-quarantini\/","url_meta":{"origin":12893,"position":5},"title":"RIP Quarantini","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Another of our fish has died. Not a major tragedy in the scheme of things, but still sad for us, and a bit of a mystery. A few weeks ago I found the body of Tequila Sunrise floating in the pond. This morning it was Quarantini. Both of these fish\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/89B5EB77-8A9C-4BF0-9664-5AC7FF609D47-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1286.jpeg?resize=525%2C281&ssl=1\")