Don't say you weren't warned.

[strange_complex]

So, the noble whale of London town is dead. What's more, a dead porpoise was found yesterday on the shore at Putney (I can't seem to find an online source for this Important News Item, but I assure you it's true - I saw pictures yesterday as part of Sky News' continuous live whale coverage).

In summary, dead and dying marine mammals are hurling themselves at our shores. You know what Cassius Dio would say. Get out of the stock market - now!

The next stage, apparently, is for experts to examine the body to ascertain the cause of death. I do hope they will pay special attention to the liver, since everyone knows that's where the gods most like to leave their messages to humanity.

Comments

[davesangel.livejournal.com]

Myself and my friend 'A', (WINOLJ) were in London during the weekend and were hoping to see the whale (but didn't), until I heard how injured it was. At this point I decided there was no way I was going to see it, it would be far too upsetting. I hate seeing creatures in distress and it seemed that the rescue operation (albeit very well intended) may have caused more harm than good.

In other news: I was in a souvenir shop on The Strand yesterday afternoon and it had a lot of Dr Who merchandise, but also a Dracula doll (Christopher Lee). It looked startlingly like Mr Lee and I was so tempted to buy it for you but unfortunately I'd run out of money at this stage :( London is just far too expensive, even for a weekend break...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks for the thought anyway! It sounds like a really cool doll.

I don't think the whale was actually injured in any external sense. It seems just to have been very stressed out, and had been beaching itself on the edges of the Thames several times during the course of Friday. We'll have to wait for the postmortem results to see if it was ill, had some kind of internal injury, or was simply lost and distressed.