(As some of you know, for a significant Story Number, I sometimes lapse into reality. Here then is Story 2100 to celebrate Story 2100!)
I thought I would tell you about the time I set out to make a fishpond. It was the first time I had downloaded plans for anything from the internet – and in this case it was how to make a fishpond. It was at a boarding high school in Christchurch where I taught and lived as a house master. I asked the principal of the school if I might make a path through the lawn that was next to the Administration Block. He was more than surprised when I turned up with a tractor with a frontend loader!
The plan was to make the work of art over several weekends. I had multitudinous helpers as every boarding student and his dog wanted to help. The first thing was to dig a hole – no deeper than the Christchurch City Council stipulated before it required safety fencing.
The next thing was to gather rocks to create a tumbling waterfall. Then it was a question of installing an underwater pump and hoses with a secret hole drilled through the bricks into the Administration Block to plug the pump into an electric system! After that it was a question of mixing concrete and creating the tumbling waterfall and pond itself.
The final thing was to landscape the piles of dirt and make a higgledy-piggledy path through the area.
Volunteers arrived with shrubs and pond plants from goodness knows where. One parent donated a little garden statue. Another parent arrived with three goldfish even before there was water in the pond! Oh! I forgot to mention that along with the pump I had installed a water fountain and under water and garden lighting, all on an automatic time switch.
When all was done, things were turned on. I have memories of two comments. One from the headmaster who stood looking at it in wonder and said: “I thought you said you were just making a path.” The other comment was from a neighbouring high school. A team had come to play rugby. After the match the visiting team members were standing looking at the pond. One boy said: “Why can’t our school have one of these?”
Tragically, 14 years later the Christchurch earthquake struck killing 185 people. It also unfortunately destroyed the fishpond.
Wow! You are a goat of many talents. I have only ever removed a fishpond. Our previous house had a small but magical backyard with archways and paths, a garden and a pond. It was gorgeous, but my sons were 3 and 5 at the time and I grew tired of all the rocks (And children) in the yard winding up in the pond. We traded it out for a fire pit.
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A fire pit sounds a brilliant idea. Unfortunately where I live now there is no room for a fire pit or a fishpond! In fact we don’t even have a BBQ spot although we have a largish vegie garden.
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I love this story from your rich past, and chuckled at the 2 comments you recalled for us.
I hope a translating job lobs into your inbox today, BA.
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Thank you! We’re currently looking for a translator who can translate chemistry into Arabic!
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Good grief!
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These Arabs write backwards!
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Perhaps we are the ones who have it all wrong?
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You probably upset the balance of something or other and caused the earthquake. Or not.
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Too much concrete could well have done it!
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Bruce, you are such a creative type apart from being a wonderful storyteller.
However I would have thought your pond would have been earthquake proof.
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I think it may have been the building that came down on it!
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The headmaster did like it didn’t he?
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Yes – he liked it!
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It was fun while it lasted! I remember reading something about a fish pond in some book I read last year that this story vaguely reminds me of…
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I KNEW you’d pick that! LOL
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Haha.
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How wonderful and a little piece of heaven. I’d ask you to moe and make one for us, but I doubt the construction company’s HOA would allow it.
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So many rules these days!
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Storytelling and pond building, Bruce you are a wonder.
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But I haven’t had the joy of going to Australia – let alone driving all over it!
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😂
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