A shrimp is not just for potting or cocktails.

Our pet Wood or Bamboo Shrimp 'Sydney'

Syd has been a bit a bit poorly for a week or two but we are pleased to announce that he has responded well to an intense shrimp focussed feeding programme. I am very pleased he has 'perked up' as Syd and I have established a crustacean - hominid bond that is so much more than the sum of the parts. Sydney's shrimply the best.

RIP Syd - It is with great sadness that I must announce the untimely death, on the 5th of September 2017, of Sydney the Bamboo Shrimp. 

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, 
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, 
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum 
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. 

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead 
Scribbling on the sky the message 'Syd Is Dead', 
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, 
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 

Syd was my North, my South, my East and West, 
My working week and my Sunday rest, 
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; 
I thought that shrimp would last for ever: I was wrong. 

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; 
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; 
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; 
For nothing now can ever come to any good. 

after W H Auden