tinytawnykitten

Not remotely :lol: Hmm yes I did think of that but I wouldn't be able to take any fish back with me cos I'm flying Air NZ so I reckon it'd just be depressing.

I will have a full day or two in Christchurch next week with my son who is almost 5. We will have a rental car. Any suggestions of what stuff I should take him to see? Is the aquarium any good? Or the antarctic centre? I vaguely remember a safari park where you drove amongst the animals but I am guessing in this day and age that driving amongst african animals is no longer a happening thing. Bearing in mind also that I am 28 weeks pregnant and have been told to take things very easy. Also are there any really nice spots to drive to for a yummy mummy like myself (haha not really) with nice cafes, vineyards maybe?

This my new favourite place in NZ. A place we stayed on a weekend away a few weeks ago. It is in Hawke's Bay, near Otane. The first two pics are the view from the front lawn and bedroom, and the third is the hot tub. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (that's a contented sigh rather than a scream)

I agree to a certain extent but there is definitely a good way and a bad way to talk to deliver 'bad news'. I have seen posts on here from newbies along these lines: Hi I have just bought a ....(some brand of tank which is small) and am wondering whether I can keep a pair of .... in it. And replies coming back like: They'll be fine if you don't want them to live for longer than a week. OR How about you buy a real tank? :roll: These kinds of replies don't happen often but do happen. Not good enough.

Glad to hear you're sick with the flu and not writing your will! I am just like you when it comes to lymph nodes. Easily freaked out. Sometimes they don't go down for months or in fact never go down. Unless they're hard/immovable, growing, or there is a chain of them, they are usually harmless

How did you go at the doctor?

If it hurts it is a very good sign and is most likely from the infection. I am forever worrying myself sick about lymph nodes so I know what to look for now!

Sweeet. Yeah I bet you could tell some stories about the northside. We lived a very sheltered life in Ballsbridge and then Mount Saint Anne's! :lol:

I was there 2001 - 2004. I only miss it cos I am not there. Most of the time when I was living there I was pretty over it. I don't miss the bureaucracy or the queue to the aliens office at 3am or the number 18 bus or the Red Cow roundabout or the smell of puke outside M&S on Grafton St, or the repulsive sights to behold on Talbot St or people trying to rip you off or the dreadful coffee or the fact that they need blue lights in the St Stephens Green Centre toilets or Ballymun (not that I ever spent time in Ballymun). I do miss the cheap flights to France, the ready made M&S meals, strolling around the gardens at Powerscourt House or pretty much anything in Co. Wicklow, the BT sale, the people (mostly), soda farls, beautiful old buildings and history, day trips to Belfast,.the Angelus (you know, before the news - pretty cute and old fashioned)...the list goes on... Anyway, I am totally off topic!!!

Hahahaha qualifications. Well I have a degree in Linguistics but that doesn't really come into it! I have done quite a bit of nannying over the years, here and in Ireland, but the best qualification I have is being a mother. It really is a fantastic way to live, especially when you have a child. Midwifery sounds awesome though. I would love to have done that. I guess it is never too late but I know deep down I won't get around to it.

Wow, bumed I wasn't as into fish when we lived there as now! I can't believe I didn't know about Wackers or Seahorse Ireland. I worked on the Long Mile Road for a year. I remember the one out towards Blessington now you mention it. Aaaah this makes me miss Dubs. Thinking about Tallaght doesn't :lol: but the rest does.

Where are the good aquatics stores in Dublin? I don't remember ever seeing even a pet store there apart from a little one on the quays near Merchant's Arch?

I would highly recommend Dean Spanley. One of the best movies I have seen this year. Also, Religulous is fantastic. Bill Maher documentary about religious extremists. Very interesting and funny. Burn After Reading is brilliant. Probably out on DVD by now I would say.

Thanks for that. Now just gotta work out where to get it from!

Met another african cichlid person today with some fantastic tanks. He isn't on the forum either. I asked him whether he had ever used it and he said that he had used it once to ask a question and got a couple of very condescending replies and hasn't bothered to use it again. This is quite a common experience I think.

I'm 25 weeks pregnant with a boy so I'm going to check this as soon as we get home to see if it says boy. Good luck for your scan!!

I am looking at upgrading my tank to a 4ft. At the moment I just have a 3ish ft (slightly over) tank about 230L. Will my floor need to be strengthened for this? The tank is against an outside wall, and the house is a 1962 wooden floored Beazley home. Any clues?

That's where most of DoC's budget goes these days, putting little heaters in all the waterways around the country.

I bought some e. yellows on TM and collected them last night from a really nice guy called Ken who has never been on the forum but knows several of the people on there, mentioned Ryan, Alex, Johannes. He has some beautiful tanks set up. I have encouraged him to join up on here and sent him the link. It makes me wonder how many other cichlid keepers there are out there who aren't on the forum.

Thanks. My lighting is dire at the moment because it is a small tank with a massive piece of really cool looking driftwood in it which is blocking much of the light. I am going to have to cut the driftwood down a bit before I start thinking about plants then.

What is a nice plant which creates a lawn effect for the front of a planted tank? Any ideas?

We bought a Navman S35 a few months ago and have used it heaps and would definitely recommend. Ours is called Karen and she has a slight speech impediment. My father is a broadcaster on National Radio and she might spend a few weeks with him learning her diphthongs.

That's what I was thinking about when I was reading this. As a mother myself, and also a full-time home-based caregiver to other young children, I find it hard to believe that any children brought up in a supportive, loving family would behave in this way. But then what children find stressful might not be what we expect. And it is that stress that does bad things to children. There is a little boy I look after and have looked after full time since he was 6 months old. He is now 4 and a half. I love him very much and he loves me and I am like a second Mum to him but the stress levels in this child are very high, purely because of the fact that he doesn't get to spend much time with his mama, and he misses her every minute of the day, even after 4 years. He is the only child I know who has been in daycare for such a high number of hours from such a young age, and he is the only child of his age I know who constantly lies to get attention, tries to steal small toys, will hurt another child if he thinks no one is looking. I am not saying that children being in care is the problem by any means, just that the things that cause high stress levels in a child are not necessarily the first things we would think of - violence, neglect etc.

I got bitten by one of these when I was about 8. Ouchy!

Attenborough will always be king. And who says he's not a hottie anyway!