DISPATCHES
The family of dabchicks of the west pier have issued, through the eldest of the dabchicks, a statement that reads as a return to the form the household has held all season.
FROM THE POND
Two days after the Channel Sprint, the pebble returned to the coot at the finish line has settled into a place on the bank to its owner's left. The small movements of the morning, recorded without approaching.
DISPATCHES
The heron has resumed its station at the west pier. The fish are not visible. The dabchicks are silent. By the count kept here all season, this is the eighth oscillation.
DISPATCHES
The Channel Sprint rematch was run on Wednesday afternoon. The Rising Young Goose won at eight splashes and a quarter; the Veteran Mallard came second; the coot, by long public undertaking, finished third. The pebble came back at the finish line.
DISPATCHES
The fish that held beneath the west pier across the preceding four mornings were gone on Tuesday. The heron, likewise, was not visible. The dabchicks decline to elaborate.
DISPATCHES
The heron has not been seen at the west pier since Thursday afternoon. Friday's fish remain. The eldest of the dabchicks delivers a further statement, of a cautiously consequential kind.
FROM THE POND
The pond on the Sunday morning after Saturday's noises, recorded as it presented itself: largely undisturbed, the customary parties back at their stations at the customary intervals.