# 2009 Festival of Fishkeeping Pictures



## Tony Swinney (11 Oct 2009)

Hi all

I spent Saturday morning down at Hayling Island helping out a little on the stand, that George, Dan and Graeme had set up to represent ukaps - and a great job they'd done too.  It was easily the best, most professional looking stand there, as the pictures show....

Getting the stand all finished up before the doors open:














James Starr-Marshall brought along these great tool holders to hang on the side of the tanks:





A couple of final tweaks:









Talking all things 'ukaps' with folks at the show:

















I helped out prepping some glosso and blyxa for the demo, watched over by Graeme:










A couple of the tanks:













George and James arrive with 'supplies' :





The demo begins:





















Unfortunately I had to leave at this point, but Dan sent this pic of the finished scape from his phone - I'm sure there'll be better pics once they get back:





There was another tank done for the festivals "Best Display Tank" competition, and this was it. Put together on Friday night to represent 'ukaps', and named "Irony" by George, Dan and Graeme    :









It was great to see everyone down there, and to meet Lisa, Lozbug and James for the first time.  Huge congratulations to the Ukaps Team for all the effort which they'd put in to the stand - it really showed through.  Well done guys


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## Steve Smith (11 Oct 2009)

The stand looks amazing guys, well done everyone!  I like the display tanks, and the demo tank looks the business!  Can't wait for more photos   Just wish I could be there!


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## Egmel (11 Oct 2009)

Agreed Steve, looks fab.

Ditto on the wishing I could be there but unfortunately work has got in the way.

Where can I get me one of those funky plastic ukaps holders, they're a really nifty idea!


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## andyh (11 Oct 2009)

Hey Guys

The pics look great and the stand looks very professional! 

Looking forward to seeing some more pics !

Andy


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## James Marshall (11 Oct 2009)

What an excellent weekend for Ukaps this was.
Myself and Jenny arrived at about 10pm on the friday to deliver the Ukaps tool tidies, and the stand already looked fantastic. The banner that spanned the back of the stand was well "swish" and the scapes the chaps had brought arrived unscathed by their journey. It was great to see dan's " little mountain" and Graeme's "Worlds end" in the flesh, these are seriously high end aquascapes.
On the saturday Ukaps got the attention it deserved and the stand was buzzing with some very impressed punters, particularly when Graeme, George and Dan were scaping the 80cm tank and quite a crowd gathered. The scape looked absolutely superb from the outset and by the sunday when the water had cleared and the fish were added it was nothing short of a masterpiece.  





Unfortunately my photography skills do not do it justice, but this was how the tank looked at about 11am this morning.  The stand was buzzing again and there were many taking photos of the new 80cm scape.
It was great to meet you for the first time Tony and to meet George, Dan, Graeme and Lisa again.  Thank you everyone for a most excellent weekend.  Jenny and I enjoyed it thoroughly and are looking forward to the next event.

Cheers
James


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## John Starkey (11 Oct 2009)

Nice one guys you did UKAPS proud,

regards john.


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## The Green Machine (11 Oct 2009)

Great stand guys. What a plus for our hobby ! and extremely professional.


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## TDI-line (11 Oct 2009)

Brilliant guys, excellent work.


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## Themuleous (11 Oct 2009)

Nice one all, really gutted I couldn't attend in the end.

Sam

PS - I found my dog


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## Stu Worrall (11 Oct 2009)

Great looking stand, tanks and great pics to show it all off!  Looks like a great weekend, Im hoping to make it down there next year.  Got to get me one of those tool holder! 

(Glad you found your dog btw Sam    )


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## Lozbug (11 Oct 2009)

Great shots!! Was a fantastic weekend, had a blast, public wise it was a little lighter than ideal... but hey ho! We all had fun i think!

Was good to see Dan, George & Graeme again, and meet folk i hadn't before! 

I've only just got home, so will have a look at my pic's tomorrow!!


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## rawr (11 Oct 2009)

I really like that aquascape called 'irony' and the other one is great! Looked like everyone had a good time and hopefully we got some great exposure etc from the event - the professional stand definately represented us well as usual!


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## Simon D (11 Oct 2009)

Well done to all involved, you know who you are, and to those lucky enough to have been able to attend and support UKAPS. 

Wish I could have been there but with the little one (just 10 days old) would have been pushing my luck.  Next event is a must!


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## Gill (12 Oct 2009)

Looks like it was a great weekend.


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## George Farmer (12 Oct 2009)

Great shots!

Here is a another quick one.  Many more to follow...


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## Garuf (12 Oct 2009)

Now I know that LED's are the bees knees but that cubes aesthetics are _destroyed _ by that clunky great ugly box above it! 
On a more positive note all those scapes look fantastic and I'm glad you all had a good time! Also, are there any photos without Dan reclining in them?!


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## Lozbug (12 Oct 2009)

Good Shot George 

Here's a few of mine:


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## Dan Crawford (12 Oct 2009)

Nice photos Lozbug!

I'll get some up asap but mine are all of Saturday night and they are well blurry LOL


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## Lozbug (12 Oct 2009)

And a video! Hehe.


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## Lozbug (12 Oct 2009)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> Nice photos Lozbug!
> 
> I'll get some up asap but mine are all of Saturday night and they are well blurry LOL


Thanks. 

Eep! I'm looking forward to those..!


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## Steve Smith (12 Oct 2009)

Great video Loz   makes me a bit annoyed I couldn't make it   Looks like it was a good show though.  Keep the pics coming guys


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## JazzyJeff (12 Oct 2009)

Was good too see you all again guys, I had a great weekend especially winning the solid Red class wityh my Discus, just off too polish the trophy !!!!!!!!!!


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## George Farmer (12 Oct 2009)

Here's some more -

*Setting up late on Friday night.  We started at around 9pm and finished about 2am.  Many thanks to Lisa, James and Jenny for helping us out!*





*Dan looking seriously interested in whatever James is saying...*




*The UKAPS logistics guru, Graeme Edwards...* 




*The 30cm opti-white/LED/nano-CO2  combo interested many visitors - cutting edge!*





*From the left - Jenny, Tony, James, Dan and Graeme*




*25 pots of Glosso chopped into 1cm portions*




*Planting the 80cm Iwagumi display tank - a proper team effort*




*Dan planting Glosso*


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## Superman (12 Oct 2009)

Looks superb, was there anything like last year...

Passerby: "Are you selling anything?"
Ukaps Person: "Nope"
Passerby: "Ooooooooh"


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## Mark Evans (12 Oct 2009)

may i ask, why is there there never James c in the images? or matt HB? always baffles me.


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## James Marshall (12 Oct 2009)

Cheers Folks, there's some great shots there, mine are all blurred as usual I really must learn to use a camera.
I have this shot of 6 of us which my girlfriend Jenny kindly blurred in my stead.





From left to right: Me, Graeme, Dan, Lucy, George and Lauren.

Cheers
James


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## castmana1 (12 Oct 2009)

I'm the chap who was on the Reef Aquatics stall next to you guys.  Really loved your tanks.  Over the last few years I've only ever kept marines, was never interested in setting up a planted aquarium until I saw your tanks!  Very inspirational.  Have been discussing with the boss about setting up a nano in the shop so I can generate some interest and get some experience before shelling out on my own setup!  Anyone able to recommend a good wholesaler that deals with the equipment that you use so we can start ordering stuff in?

Once again, many thanks.  I'll be picking your brains heavily over the next few months!

Will


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## samc (12 Oct 2009)

looks a great event. i must go next year and meet you guys

castmana1 if i wereyou i would look at the green machine our sponsor http://www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mall/Aquatics/

you may have seen them but they offer a really nice modern looking setups like at the event


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## Lozbug (12 Oct 2009)

James Marshall said:
			
		

> Cheers Folks, there's some great shots there, mine are all blurred as usual I really must learn to use a camera.
> I have this shot of 6 of us which my girlfriend Jenny kindly blurred in my stead.
> 
> 
> ...


 lol @ Lucy, i thought i was hidden enough!! 

Good pic.


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## Lozbug (12 Oct 2009)

Love your pic's George, especially this one!


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## viktorlantos (12 Oct 2009)

hey the photos look awesome just like the tanks. 25 pot glosso??? i thought i am fair good enough with the pinsettes and foreground planting but it looks like i am on level 1 only 

great job with the booth! congratulations.

the video was cool just like the photos. thanks for sharing all of this a good start for the week


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## enviroman (12 Oct 2009)

Hi Guys,

Managed to make it down on the Sunday and met you all at the best stand at the show by miles.  As I promised George, have become a new member of the forum, and already got lots of hints and tips from the site.  The scapes on the stand have already inspired me to order some plants from The Green Machine and re-do my tank from the Jungle mess (see photo) it is now to something really minimalist/iwagumi. Have to curb my desire to keeping buying lots of different plant species though! 

I had crypt melt for the first time ever, due to a prob with my CO2 while I went away for a few days, so think it is a good time to make a change anyway.

cheers,

Elliot


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## George Farmer (13 Oct 2009)

enviroman said:
			
		

> As I promised George, have become a new member of the forum...


Welcome along, Elliot!  It was great to meet you.  

Good luck with the new layout and be sure to keep us updates in the Journal section!



			
				castmana1 said:
			
		

> I'm the chap who was on the Reef Aquatics stall next to you guys.  Really loved your tanks.  Over the last few years I've only ever kept marines, was never interested in setting up a planted aquarium until I saw your tanks!  Very inspirational.  Have been discussing with the boss about setting up a nano in the shop so I can generate some interest and get some experience before shelling out on my own setup!  Anyone able to recommend a good wholesaler that deals with the equipment that you use so we can start ordering stuff in?
> 
> Once again, many thanks.  I'll be picking your brains heavily over the next few months!
> 
> Will


Thanks for the feedback, Will!

One of our sponsors, The Green Machine are ADA and Tropica AquaCare distributors.


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## Dan Crawford (13 Oct 2009)

saintly said:
			
		

> may i ask, why is there there never James c in the images? or matt HB? always baffles me.


Neither James or Matt were able to make it. Here is Matt in 2007 and since then he's been very busy with other commitments.


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## Graeme Edwards (13 Oct 2009)

Wow, dont we all look serwish.

I apologise - I have plenty of pictures my self, but my Mac is no longer alive, so I have no way of getting them up for you all to see.

It was a busy and hard working weekend. Its all about the logistics.   

Its a shame the turn out at the FOF was not as high as last year. I hope we still continued to inspire those that did. That is what we are all about.
I also want to high light the fact that we are a national group and we do like to meet people and make new friends. We are not just a forum. The only real thing we wish we had more of was time and the money to meet more people and hold more events.
Ive made some true freinds from the humble start of UKaps and hope to make many more.

Thanks for being part of UKaps every one.

Cheers,
Graeme.


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## Lisa_Perry75 (13 Oct 2009)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> saintly said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Awww! I thought I recognised that stand, my mate Kev is taking a pic of you guys!


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## Joecoral (13 Oct 2009)

What the hell,has this been already!? I thought it wasnt for another few weeks!!
God damn, I was looking forward to this too, been so busy lately I forgot!


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## Fred Dulley (16 Oct 2009)

What manufacturer made this CO2 product?
Outstanding work fellas. Someday I'll attend/participate in one.


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## Dan Crawford (16 Oct 2009)

Fred Dulley said:
			
		

> What manufacturer made this CO2 product?
> Outstanding work fellas. Someday I'll attend/participate in one.


It's brand spanking new mate "FIRST IN THE WORLD" to be shown off to the public. It's really good.

It's made by Aquadistri under the Columbo brand. It'll be available to Maidenheads around now and costs Â£80 for the whole lot. Refills are Â£12. 
Check out PFK soon for a full review....


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## Stu Worrall (16 Oct 2009)

looks cool for nanos, how many gramms is the cylinder dan?


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## Dan Crawford (16 Oct 2009)

stuworrall said:
			
		

> looks cool for nanos, how many gramms is the cylinder dan?


I don't remember, i'll find out for you later.


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## Stu Worrall (16 Oct 2009)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> stuworrall said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


no worries and no hurry, was just wondering what size it would compare to my 500g that I use at the mo on my nano


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## George Farmer (16 Oct 2009)

74g rings a bell.  I think the ADA equivalent are 74g, and they look a very similar size.


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## ashpitt (16 Oct 2009)

Just to my curiousity.. what happened to the 3footer iwagumi display tank, still up and running or already decom? would love to see the tank mature.


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## George Farmer (16 Oct 2009)

We were planning on stripping it down, but Dan (and us all) loved it so much he decided to keep it running.  Lucky Dan!

I think it's the best Iwagumi I've ever seen in the flesh.  It was a pleasure to work with the talents and professionals that are Edwards and Crawford.


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## ashpitt (16 Oct 2009)

two thumbs up from me on the display tank. Sure a heck of a day to poke those glossosssssss if meant to scape it alone. I might turn green by the end of the day  

+1 to let it mature


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## JamesM (16 Oct 2009)

stuworrall said:
			
		

> looks cool for nanos, how many gramms is the cylinder dan?


95gram


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## Garuf (16 Oct 2009)

If it's anything like the hydor one it'll be crap, I had the hydor one and to get good levels of co2 you'd use a bottle in 2 weeks and then they were super expensive to replace in the end I moved over to a real reg and a fe, the tiny bottles are nice aesthetically and for the tank size but they're a luxury in cost.


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## Dan Crawford (16 Oct 2009)

Garuf said:
			
		

> If it's anything like the hydor one it'll be crap, I had the hydor one and to get good levels of co2 you'd use a bottle in 2 weeks and then they were super expensive to replace in the end I moved over to a real reg and a fe, the tiny bottles are nice aesthetically and for the tank size but they're a luxury in cost.


Why so negative garuf? I can assure you it's nothing like the Hydor one, I had one of those and it was rubbish! This one is awesome, it's got a proper sexy little metal reg and it's accurate as heck. The diffuser is the standard little one like the Dennerle one or the unbranded ones from ebay. The bubble counter is clear plastic and not quite as cool as the glass ones but it counts bubble none the less. It's the hanger that it really cool IMO, when i heard that i was getting one, i'd already got the acrylic bender out to try and make one for the festival but when i got it it was all supplied, well chuffed.

i did mention the price of refills and it's Â£12, not super expensive IMO but we'll see how long this one lasts. I'm using it on a larger than recommended tank ie. 160l and it's recommended up to 100l so this'll be a good test.

If you only had a nano then this is a great little CO2 i recon, it'd suit your little tank perfectly garuf.


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## Garuf (16 Oct 2009)

I'll stick with my fe's for the minute thanks dan . 
Which Hydor are you refering to? the tiny one with the metal stand and egg shaped reg? Because that's the one I had and even at Â£8 for a bottle it was still costing me Â£16 a month compared with the FE which gives me 6months at Â£25. I liked all the gubbins that came with it and found it accurate but it's biggest flaw was it's tiny size bottles which run out so so quickly and were difficult to source. I'd have liked to be able to use a paintball cannister like the red sea ones but they're banned in the uk for what ever reason I don't know. 

I'll concede that they're nice to look at (I wouldn't attach mine to the tank, it makes the tank look like it's carrying a back pack on a big hike) but I'm still not so sure they're a clever purchase if economy is your drive.


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## paul.in.kendal (16 Oct 2009)

That's an outstanding stand guys - if I wasn't at the opposite end of the country this is a show I'd have LOVED to attend.  The tanks look ace, and obviously did the job of winning converts judging by some of the posts here.  It's interesting to see how the stand has come on from that (perfectly decent) stand at an earlier show.

Just shows that, if you get good tanks out there in front of people, they win fans!


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## Dan Crawford (16 Oct 2009)

Garuf said:
			
		

> I'll stick with my fe's for the minute thanks dan .
> Which Hydor are you refering to? the tiny one with the metal stand and egg shaped reg? Because that's the one I had and even at Â£8 for a bottle it was still costing me Â£16 a month compared with the FE which gives me 6months at Â£25. I liked all the gubbins that came with it and found it accurate but it's biggest flaw was it's tiny size bottles which run out so so quickly and were difficult to source. I'd have liked to be able to use a paintball cannister like the red sea ones but they're banned in the uk for what ever reason I don't know.
> 
> I'll concede that they're nice to look at (I wouldn't attach mine to the tank, it makes the tank look like it's carrying a back pack on a big hike) but I'm still not so sure they're a clever purchase if economy is your drive.


Garuf, you called it "crap" in the first post and then said you liked it in the next? Apparently it's "crap" purely because it's  expensive to run ? I've just bought an ADA Solar 1, halides are expensive to run but is that crap? In your second post you've given the readers much more info on the hydor kit and thats how it should have been referenced in the first place IMO. If your into keeping costs to a minimum then there is no disputing that an FE is the way forward but lets not discount every other option based on a bad experience that you once had with an entirely different product from a different manufacturer hey.


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## Garuf (16 Oct 2009)

It cross threaded, that was the other thing. In the end it was, it was a horrible product. Just like the D&D reg I had was naff because it leaked profusely. 
The Hydor one I could never recommend, after the place I got my replacements from went out of stock it was impossible to find replacement canisters, it did come with some nice things, the stick on plastic drop counter for example the silver tubing was a nice touch too and it did look pretty but the quality just wasn't there it used to knock itself over when the solenoid closed, had no way of shutting off the co2 without untuning the needle valve and in the end it started to leak.   
The biggest issue was that the pressure wasn't consistent, dropping quiet steeply as the canister got emptier meaning consistency was difficult to get right meaning you had to change the needle valve every few days to make sure the bubbles were still coming out at the same rate. I hope supafishes new model avoids this issue which seems inherent with smaller volumes of gas as it used to be an issue with paintball guns when I worked as a marshal. 

The last comment regarding it looking nice was in regard the the new superfish one.

I'm not going to argue over it since I'm not the one testing, but the two products are very similar, they're even aimed at the same are of the market, that can't be disputed and as such I found the small size a burden as I'm sure many of those who are interested in function and reliability of their product are compared to the asethetics. Yes they look nice but are they as good or as versatile as a cheaper if much larger product? Do you really want the equipmet on the side of the tank or on the shelve it's on, or if the tanks on a stand do you want it on the side of the tank when it could be in the cabinet and if it's there does it matter what it looks like as long as it's reliable? 
I think it's a very niche market product at the moment that unless it gets a good distribution base for replacement bottles it will falter like the now discontinued hydor one did.

Is there a way of attaching it to standard bottles or is it limited to the supafish disposables that would help with finding refills?


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## Lozbug (16 Oct 2009)

*taps foot waiting for Dan's pictures* lol.


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## Lisa_Perry75 (16 Oct 2009)

So what happened after I went home guys? End up in Fuzzy Duck


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## LondonDragon (16 Oct 2009)

Great photos guys, great stand, great tanks, you guys are setting the standard in the UK, shame I wasn't there would have been nice to finally meet some of the other guys and gals  

Thanks to all for sharing the photos, where was the live feed???


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## Stu Worrall (16 Oct 2009)

never mind all this tank talk now, get some pics up of that solar 1 Dan!!!


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## Mark Webb (17 Oct 2009)

Great effort lads. Stand looks superb  

I didn't know the show was on - I would have been there.


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## Lozbug (17 Oct 2009)

Lisa_Perry75 said:
			
		

> So what happened after I went home guys? End up in Fuzzy Duck


lol, no.. 

Went to a pub (don't know the name? not far from the chinese place), had a couple more drinks, that was pretty much it.


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