new additions to the aquarium

hey all, hope you are living out the COVID wave well. Thankfully, the UK has lifted the next set of restrictions today and non-essential shops, gyms and outdoor steating areas are open....yay! 

Unfortunately I can not get a haitcut until Wednesday so I still have this huge mop of hair. Life is too boring to really write a worthwhile blog at the moment but today, I went to get some new fish that I would like to share with everyone.

 

Say hello to the 3 new Panda Coryodoras (Coryodoras panda) that will keep my guppies happy and the bottom of the tank clean :)

proud to serve

 “Before I begin I do have to beg to differ with the comments regarding the armed forces… yes the armed forces make a vital contribution, but any recruits of young people must be managed carefully and it must be an informed choice for young people… a lot of young people enter the armed forces not through choice but through lack of opportunities in the community so I do beg to differ on that point”

These are the words of Labour MP Beth Winter during a recent Welsh Affairs Select Committee meeting after members of the committee and the minister offered their thanks to the efforts of military personnel during COVID vaccine role outs. I'm not really big on writing about politics but when I saw this as a tweet from Guido Fawkes (a conservative commentary twitter account that I mostly disagree with) I had to do some more digging. Unfortunately, that was it. The story does not seem to appear anywhere else in the mainstream media but it really hit a nerve, enough so that I wanted to talk about it.

I left school with relatively poor grades and no real chance of getting into a decent university and with no real plan. What I had done was excelled at being an Army Cadet and so naturally, I decided to join the Army. I can say right now that if I had not joined the Army, I probably would not be in the position that I am today. It built me up as a person. There were of course low points to counter the good times along with very stressful times to counter the drunken times. It is true for sure that many people who do poorly at school or come from more deprived areas are drawn to military service. I think it is safe to say that this has been the case in the UK for many hundreds of years. The problem is, being poor or disadvantaged does not mean you can not become a bloody good soldier and a credit to this nation. As we have seen from COVID, from the military involvement in Ebola, Anti-poaching in Africa and from pulling old ladies out of their homes during (the many many) floods (yes surprise surprise, the Army does much more than just fight in the Middle East), the Army does great things.

FOB Shawqat, 2009

For those that do join the Army with low skills, the Army helps you improve. There are many stories of people entering service with no GCSEs and then leaving with high level technical qualifications. I myself have never been disadvantaged by military service, I am now doing a PhD at a top 10 international university.

Military culture is very particular and if you know, you know. That said, most members of our armed services are average people who want to do their part for society and their nation regardless of background. The idea that a Member of Parliament would tout the idea that the Army takes advantage of the poor and the deprived is insulting and inherently wrong. I am proud of my service in both the Regular Army and in the Reserves and despite sometimes having to deal with the odd 'muppet' or over zealous NCO, it made me who I am and Beth Winter MP should take her head out of her 'far left' box and apologise.

 Feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

(Link to original (and only) story)

2020.......

I think everybody can agree that 2020 has been a very miserable year. It was supposed to be the main chunk of the first year of my PhD but like the rest of the UK, it was basically spent locked up. It's pointless really venting over how problematic multiple lockdowns have been so I am not planning on dwelling on COVID. The vaccine is here, let's hope it work and soon so we can all go back to normal. 

Instead, what are the positives? I passed the first year review for my PhD. This is quite a big deal for me. I left school with massively sub-standard GCSEs and A Levels and ending up at University College London - a top 10 university in the world (only a slight brag - it's a big deal for me) still leaves me with massive imposter syndrome. Being in the Army definitely helped develop me but I am really taking to the academic life. So yeah, 1st year review done and pretty successful. The next step is called the Upgrade. This is the penultimate milestone before completing my PhD and is currently the reason I am in a constant state of stress. COVID (sorry!) means that I have not done any fieldwork, not had any conferences, not sat in any classes etc etc etc so yeah, writing 15,000 words and a 30 min presentation showing my progress is probably not as far ahead as I expected. Fingers crossed.

2020 is also the year of no international travel. On a plus side though, I reconnected with my love for hiking and being outdoors. A long weekend in the Lake District and another weekend in the Cotswolds might seem quite ordinary to most but it actually made me realise that I have probably visited more places abroad than in the UK. The last time I was in the Lake District was when I was 16 which really isn't acceptable. When COVID goes back into its hole, I think spending some weekends doing trails like the Pennine Way and the Carlisle Way. In terms of international travel, I told my supervisor that I am going to China in the summer to do some fieldwork regardless - he completely agreed.

 New Year is also about resolutions and promises to oneself that really won't be kept. I definitely want to go to the gym more but I hate the gym so I have to find a way to congratulate myself every time I go. Instead I will be more realistic - 

- go for a walk in Regents park more
- schedule my week better (already been doing this so can't fail)
- stick it out with my 中文 classes.

all realistic, all doable :)

For those that read my 'back to being an aquarist' post, the tank is now nicely cycled with a few more plants added. The shrimp are happy but the snails keep breeding. In the new year I will add some fish. Undecided yet but watch this space for another blog post on fish.

So for everyone that reads my highly summarised blog posts, thank you. I hope you all had as unstressful a 2020 as possible, had a very awesome xmas and is excited for a prosperous (COVID-free) new year.

  

back to being an 'aquarist'

So, a few years ago, I developed a fascination with keeping fish in a tank thinking it would be quite cute and something nice to look at. Not long after I invested in a Fluval Edge tank aimed at beginners which had a……in summary, it was much more hard work than you think albeit super enjoyable. I’ll skip most of the story as it was several years ago and no longer relevant.

 

The interest has never really gone away but it never really seemed practical (or fair?) to keep fish anymore especially with moving into central London student accommodation to do my master’s degree and later PhD. Well that all changed very quickly over the last few months. Firstly, my PhD supervisor is an archaeobotanist who also happens to enjoy growing his own aquatic plants in tanks along with fish and shrimp. Secondly, a friend of mine has jumped over years of practice and gone straight for a marine tank in his student accommodation. This was all too much for me and the itch culminated in me taking advantage of black Friday sales. So now I am the proud owner of a 34L Fluval Flex. The problem was that I got the tank but was determined not to go rushing into it and so to date, I have probably consumed over 50 hours of YouTube videos and blogs about freshwater fish, aqua scaping, aquatic plants etc etc (I promise I put an equal amount of effort into my PhD). I’m also a big fan of supporting local business so after some advice, I headed down to an aquatics store in Balham, London and started the process of building up my tank.

 

First things, first. I needed a good substrate on the base of my tank in order to provide somewhere for the plants to hold onto. The guy at the store (who is super helpful) also advised some fertile soils to make a thin base at the bottom of my tank so that future rooted plants can have something to get a bit of extra food from. On top that, I went for a relatively light coarse sand. This is good because it has more surface area than sand for ‘good bacteria’ to stick too (for the Nitrogen Cycle – will talk about this next time) and still provides something stable for plant roots to take hold in. Next, I got a couple of dragon rocks to help build up my new aqua scape. Finally, I got myself a couple of Java Ferns – they are supposed to be super easy plants that can tolerate beginners a wide change in water conditions. Add the water a there we go (Photo 1).

I am actually missing an entire of week of allowing my tank to cycle so will skip forward to today. I received a text from my PhD supervisor saying he will harvest me some plants.....then he asked if I want some shrimp. I will do some posts later on about the types of plants and other things inside my aquarium but as of today, I have a nice little aquascape going on with a few different species of plant and some gorgeous cherry shrimp. Originally, I counted 7 of them in bag but of the course of the evening, I have only been able to find 4. I'm not too concerned though because they are tiny, and I have a nice little underwater forest going on.  

 

So yeah. This just a very quick zoom through of the where I am at with my new tank. I will let it sit for about month and give the plants a chance to get comfortable and start to grow before I consider adding any fish. In the meantime, though I will write a little but more about this hobby. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

back to blogging

2020 has definitely been an awful year for many thanks to COVID-19 currently running wild. For me, most of the first year of my PhD was spent locked up in my room not being entirely productive. Instead of writing paragraphs of regrets though, I have decided I want to get back into blogging with the intention of talking about my travels again but also my PhD and (hopeful) future academic research. I have also got back into my fish keeping hobby (yes..I have a fish keeping hobby) and am going to blog about my experiences and share with you the progress I am making etc (keep reading for more).

 

I have been thinking about this for a while but the sudden burst of energy I felt pushing me to write this small update is quickly fading. Stay tuned then for some updates and thanks to anyone who reads what I have to say 

tel aviv, 2018

Coming soon...... (promise)

san francisco (part 2)

One of the main reasons for visiting the US was to visit my friend Kush, he looked after me over the time I was there. He showed me the fancy cafes, the famous gay bars. Most of the time he did have to work and so I had to fend for myself but luckily (and £50 bill later ---- oops) he was available to call. Note to self, read the rules on international sims.

He took me wine tasting in Napa, which was a very fun drive into the countryside to see where they make all the famous Napa wine. He got me tickets to go to the California Academy of Sciences for an over 21s evening. It was a fantastic experience filled with albino crocodiles (see the photos album) and an exploration of space in the planetarium. I was even encouraged by buy a CAS mug and t-shirt (which I unashamedly wear most places).

I was very fortunate to meet his friends who are all very fun loving and welcoming people. It was however, strange to be around so many Americans at once. In London, you can usually hear an American voice from a mile away allowing you ample time to steer clear. It was even stranger that, people in San Francisco also really do have their own little micro-identity, even more particular than just being 'Californian'. One taxi driver told me that in SF, being 2 hours late does not even count as late. San Franciscans seem to reject chain stores. I counted 1 McDonalds, 1 KFC and 1 burger chain (that I can not remember) that is popular on the east coast of the USA. Everywhere else, the cafes and restaurants are independent or from very small 'local' chains. It was nice to see in comparison to London where everything tastes the same but with a different big corporation name on it (generalisation perhaps but pretty accurate too).

I don't think I can talk about San Francisco without mentioning in more detail the gay village, the Castro. You know it straight away by the flag, who's size could match the Royal Standard flown from buildings occupied by HMQE2. It is huge!

The Castro itself is like another little self sufficient city within the walls of SF. You see same sex couples walking around everywhere all well dressed,  with immaculately kept facial hair and all, yes, I mean all, walking small dogs. The streets are clean (compared to the neighbouring Mission district). It is quite a polar opposite to our well loved, grimy streets of Soho. The area does not really seem to reflect that once upon a time, most things homosexual were illegal. The only reminders are the occasional wonderfully drawn murals of prominent patrons of the LGBT cause. The night life was different to what I expected too. Most people there are settled and in couples (or so it seemed to me) and although the bars were full...well...it just wasn't London.

I think that going to SF was a good first choice for breaking into America for the first time.  I would be wrong to say it was one of my favourite places to visit but I met nice people and they made it worth while. Maybe New York is next?