RIP Engleburt

 

Sad times in our house this weekend.

Rewind back 22 years ago.....

My brother lived about 5 minutes from the flat my boyfriend (now husband) and I lived in. In fact the first flat we'd purchased.

Brother called and said they had a goldfish they wanted to dispose of. The fish was boring and didn't seem very happy since their engagement party when some idiot had poured champagne into the bowl - killing one of the fish (originally there had been 2 in the bowl). So boyfriend and I went over to his flat to collect the fish. We asked how often we should feed and water and were told to feed once a week and clean out monthly.

For the walk home the fish was put into a plastic bag, which I carried and boyfriend carried the bowl. I remember the fish seeing the sea and trying to swim towards it! Which made me feel a bit sad - but in the sea near us it would have lasted approximately 5 seconds.

In our flat was this stunning huge (really huge) original regency fireplace. The goldfish looked amazing on the mantlepiece (it wasn't a working fire). So great we gave it the name Engleburt. In fact he looked so fine we went to a fish shop to get provisions and try to get a friend for Engleburt.

At the shop they told us that the size of the bowl we had was definitely a one fish bowl, so we decided not to get Engleburt a friend. We did check about cleaning out and feeding though. And they told us that the fish should be fed twice a day and a jug of water should be taken out of the tank daily with a fresh jug going on. Plus a full clean out every 2 weeks.

No wonder the fish wasn't very interactive - it had been starving and swimming in its own filth! We knew we could give it a better home.

As our first pet, Engleburt was treated like the King he was. He soon got known as Dangleberry because he always had a stream of poo from his backside. If we put a pingpong ball in the water he would even play with it. Though in retrospect he was probably trying to eat it! 

We were so fond of Engleburt that when we got married our friends clubbed together and got us a huge tropical fish tank - which we still have. But without Engleburt that tank would never have happened.

When we moved to our first house Engleburt came with us. We didn't have a fireplace so the first thing we purchased was a tall chest for him to sit on. We even had a wooden fireplace surround built so he felt at home.

We were late to the housing market and so the regency house we'd purchased was basically a complete tip. All ceilings needed to be rebuilt, the fireplaces had been ripped out and it didn't even have a kitchen. Basically we lived in a building site for 5 years. When we had the first bit of plastering done we nearly lost Engleburt. We didn't know that plaster dust was actually toxic to fish.

Engleburt went green - we moved him to a safe location in the house and nursed him back to health, cleaning him out regularly and slowly he got better. Though for 6 months afterwards he'd have fits and flip out of his bowl - which was unsettling. But nothing was going to kill off Engleburt - he'd now survived champagne and plaster dust.

We got our first dog Brian - who fortunately wasn't that interested in Engleburt, so his life remained safe and dog free.

When I got pregnant we moved home again and once more the first thing we did in new house was find a home for Engleburt. I've mentioned our house is strange, we have very few window ledges and the house is very open plan - with glass walls defining different rooms. This made it very hard to find the right spot for Engleburt because we needed him out of direct sunlight. I came up with this idea to put a long thin hanging behind his bowl - basically protecting him from the sun. 

When I gave birth to son we quickly taught son that he shouldn't bother Engleburt too much because he would be scared of him and son was very good, understanding that Engleburt was important to us.

Whenever friends turned up they couldn't believe that Engleburt was still the same goldfish we'd always had. We thought he would go on forever.

Then about 4 months ago Engleburt got a kink in his side as if he had folded slightly - fish arthritus I guess. This got more and more pronounced. In the past 2 months he's just been hanging in his bowl on his side, but really perking up for food and looking like his youthful self again. But slowly the perkiness got less and less. I knew the end was near and felt Engleburt needed a proper send off, so I purchased a little box as a coffin and lined it ready for the sad day.

Throughout the whole of last week husband and I were quietly saying he had to let go, but his eyes were still bright. Then on Friday morning I went to check him and there was no sign of life and his eyes had gone white. I knew this was it, but we left him another 24 hours just in case.

On Saturday Engleburt got the full burial he deserved. I was quite choked up. We've burried him in our death garden bed. Next to Itchy, Gizmo and Whiskers (the gerbils).

His place in the sitting room looks very bare. We're not sure if we will replace him. I mean if the next one lasts as long it will probably outlive us and that doesn't seem fair!

So Engleburt saw us through first flat, engagement, marriage, first house, first dog, preganancy, move to second house, baby born, death of first dog, the gerbils arriving, the gerbils leaving (to the gerbil city in the sky), son starting school, son going to middle school and second dog arriving. He really was part of the family.

Anyway RIP Engleburt - you made us very happy. Hope you are dangleberrying all around fishy heaven as we speak.

Ps. the photo isn't Engleburt. I know son has some that he took on his last phone and I assume he still has, but when I asked him to send it he sent me a picture of the dog! When I find the picture I'll replace it.