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Monday, December 03, 2007

Must be Christmas!

Mary and Bob's Christmas card arrived this morning! Their card has been the first to arrive for about the last 30 years!!



I had better start writing mine then. Although they are all handmade this year (what a chore!) and it's a case of choosing who gets the worst ones and who gets the better ones (which are not much better than the worst!) Next year I'll be back to buying.

Bubbles has departed this world

Bubbles (my gorgeous Oranda!) had been sick with swimbladder disease, for some months - but it got much worse over the last week. He was stuck, upside-down, at the top of the tank - he couldn't swim and he couldn't catch any food (although he tried). What's more, where his body was exposed to the air outside of the water, he was drying up and rotting away. It was awful to see him this way. So, Saturday evening I did a search for humane ways to euthanise goldfish and decided on the clove oil method. Just thinking about it made me cry - amazing that you can cry over a fish!

Yesterday morning, I took Bubbles out of the tank and put him in a small bowl. Then I added some clove oil, which I'd added to some of the tank water. He was gone in a few minutes... He's now buried in the garden, with a Euphorbia Robbiae planted above him.



We bought a new friend to keep Malcolm company, but it (Jack Sprat) sits at the bottom, under the plastic coral. I'm in the process of doing a water change - I hope that sorts him, or else he'll be no use whatsoever!

Wish I had a van ...

I would be tempted to start off a computer fixing business! Simple things, that is. My PC was making noises and emitting burning smells, before it completely conked out. I replaced the PSU and all (appears) cured.. Took about 10 minutes and cost £15. How much would a computer fixer have charged for that?

Hellio!

He's about as charismatic as my pale blue socks! Apollo was much better!



This is more like it!



Not that I'm a fan of the Spice Girls, but I thought Mel and Max were better (as, evidently, did the panel). However, apart from the American public voting for the wrong couple, we really enjoyed Dancing with the Stars, the US version of our Strictly.