Here's looking at you

Today is the eighth anniversary of my first blip. The official Blipfoto count is miles off that as I've missed at least a year's worth of days, but it still matters to me, so cheers! I truly did not think at the time that I'd still be here eight years later.

I decided I had to give myself a better than even chance of getting an above average photo, rather than falling back on the garden or the #CatsofAlmunecar again. So leaving the sick to their sickbeds, I went to the aquarium in Almuñecar. It's small and pretty basic but I still enjoy visiting. Happily I was the only visitor and they play nice classical music, which makes wandering among the dimly lit tanks with their slow-moving fish a meditative experience. At the end of my visit I spent ages sitting in front of a picture window full of fish, sharks, and a large turtle, blissfully listening to a Beethoven piano concerto, until I heard a shoal of kids approaching through the shark tunnel.

Earlier I had been amused by the stingray doing a fine imitation of Caspar the friendly ghost (extra 1). I'd have liked to blip it, but it was impossible to get a good photo in dim light through smeary glass. Continuing the eye theme, if you've ever wondered what stingrays' eyes look like, see extra 2.

Back home and another quiet day. I'm glad I went to the beach yesterday because it's cool and overcast today. I'm reading David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks, which I bought on Boxing Day because for the first time in decades no-one had bought me any books for Christmas (shocking!). As usual it's more style than substance, but he's entertaining as ever. Neatly, I read 52 books last year ... here's my Year in Books courtesy of Goodreads.

Footnote: Over the last two evenings we watched Les Enfants du Paradis (parts 1 and 2) on FilmIn. I hadn't seen it in decades: what an amazing film it is!