Regents Park

Met Dan sans lj there for lunch. He was looking mighty dapper, with his claret jacket, and striped tie,all ready to lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons, which is why we met at Regents Park, close by. I had forgotten how, even at this time of year, the park is very pleasant, winter and water alight with birds. Every heron was hunched up, standing on one leg,  long  feathers streaming forward like the beards of disgruntled old men who really didn't want to go fishing for lunch. I got very close to them. They make me smile.

After whiling away some time in the inner circle, I found myself wandering in the Frieze Sculpture exhibition. These are great until you try to find out what they are (https://frieze.com/article/frieze-sculpture-park-2016) I am beginning to think artists should let others name their work. There was a cheerfully giant golden apple close to the way out, Claude Lalanne's Pomme D'Hiver, I presume. If it turns out to be entitled something like; International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, Configuration 11, Last Man, I give up.

Tried to do some shopping and singularly failed, getting tired very quickly. I have two things to think about; first of all, this cold thing really isn't shifting, last night became quite difficult. Googling my symptoms provided me with more of an answer to the itchy chin problem than the doctors could provide. It is one of the signs of asthma, specifically adult onset asthma. Still, it's only google.
All the doctors did the old stethoscope thing, and said my breathing was OK. Nonetheless, it is time to go back to them, waving the magical BUPA wand. Time for a referral, because this is becoming very debilitating.

Secondly, there's Azrael. Despite being a psychopath, he is a nice little fish, and I think he needs a mate. He was a real mistake; presuming he lives, he will grow too big for the tank and then what do I do? The idea was to downsize, to let the colony just fade gently away. Then I got him, and I don't want him to fade away; I want him to be happy,and it is clear that Mephisto was a great companion to him. Trouble is there is never any guarantee with these. He came and stared at me yesterday, I think he knows I am the food bringer. Or maybe he just wants to kill me like he does everything else.

So my options are to give him back to the shop, and carry on slowing letting the tank's population fade away,or to find him another friend. This may result in fry, but the eggs would probably not make it anyway. And if they do... well I don't know. But first, I am going to recycle this tank repeatedly to remove any traces of ammonia, really hard to do, as they are all greedy little poop machines. I don't think ammonia killed Mephisto, but it's as good to be sure. On many different levels I am sick of death.