A child's memoirs 1 : a fishpond

We passed these man-made fishponds within the river last weekend when going to that salt making place. Beautiful as they are, I couldn't helped but recall our times when we were just pre-school.

Down the memory lane

Somewhere there in San Sebastian, i used to go along with my bestfriend, her sibling and their cousins to their family-owned huge fishpond. One of our highlights then was riding in their jeep and have a picnic in their pond's nipa hut. Nothing planned, going there once in a while was just a whim for the day. 

Or can just be a reason for us kids to stay away from my bestfriend's house?😄😄

I remember walking along the tall grassland that surround the pond. They were sort of left alone and uncut. For a child, a grass having the height till our knees were really tall. Where we can't see our feet as we walked. The snakes would have been there having a party and we wouldn't have seen them.

Where the pond was, it's not a marshland as the water was routinely replaced once in a while. The water didn't reach the knee, even barely above the ankles. The land too, surrounding the pond was also dry.

I couldn't recall having seen this river.

In the old days, this place was a stream, where water was just seen trickling in the middle of it. In the summer. After a typhoon, it's a different story. The water can reach the road above it and overflows. 

Those man-made fishponds are not the norm in my town. Before, the size looked like a swimming pool, with less water, like what i've said earlier, the depth can be like above the ankles in some parts. It depends on what sort of fish was there.

We never did try getting in the pond as it can be muddy. A helper usually do it with a man-made bamboo fish trap.

Disclaimer: this image is a screenshot from www.brandonthatchers.co.uk

Our fish trap was very much similar to this one but a lot shorter due to the water level. 

The FUN part

I remember jumping with glee upon arriving at my bestfriend's house on hearing the news of a picnic. It didn't happen very open so when it did, everybody's happy. All the neighbour playmates also joined us with whoever were there for our games.

Their jeep was always full of shrieking kids wherever we went.

As we were not allowed to get in the pond, we will be sitting at the edge with our fish basket, waiting. Because once the helper caught one, he would throw it at us to put in the basket, ALIVE. 

And the fish will just be jumping in the grass, getting caught with our small hands, slipping from our fingers and us shrieking to catch it. That was just 1, there were few more, flying towards us.

Imagine the scenario.

The river images are mine, taken with my Samsung Galaxy S7. Edits from PicsArt.