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 