From my Substack diary of Monday, 29th. June 2026

A cool morning and very comfortable. I must make a decision: do I venture into town today or tomorrow? Apart from anything else I must visit the tropical fish shop in town. My fish pond has been pea soup since my landlord changed the pond liner last autumn, and I suspect the snails I purchased some years ago disappeared as he emptied the pond. They were very good at keeping the pond clear, but I suspect I need some special chemical – he will advise me. I will be very glad to see clear water after all this time and at least then I might stand a chance of finding the leak.

I love having a pond but the one provided by the landlord is wrong in just about every way. Who in their right mind would locate a pond at the far end of the garden butted up against a party fence? You cannot walk around it and the side against the fence is inaccessible, which means that the planting there cannot be maintained. Furthermore, a pond is an ideal place to have seating, but who wants to sit right next to a fence with the neighbours only a metre away?

I often tell myself that I will not miss the pond when I come to move, but the truth is I would rather have some kind of water feature than none at all. A home near the sea or even a lake or river would be ideal but I imagine that would be a preference for many people – perhaps even a majority – making it unaffordable for the likes of me. As a geographer I would be able to choose a site that is highly unlikely to suffer floods or coastal erosion and which would indeed be as climate change resilient as possible. Yes, it is possible to live close to the sea and not fall into it in 50 years time. You just have to know where to find the right spot, and there is plenty of coastline in Devon and Cornwall to choose from.