Last week, I read one of those “heartwarming” stories for which I am a total sucker. Vicky Thornley from Christchurch had not been able to return to her office for four and a half months because the damage from the February earthquake was so extensive. Safety workers were finally able to escort the woman to her office in the damaged district around High Street at the beginning of July. There, to everyone’s amazement, they found two of the office goldfish alive in the reception area aquarium. The fish had outlasted an earthquake, building damage, and one hundred thirty-four days without food or the electricity that ran the filter: “New Zealand goldfish survive 134 days without food.” The fish lived on the tank’s plant life and possibly threw a Donner Party. The survivors, Shaggy and Daphne, have since joined Thornley’s son’s aquarium.