# I really need a favour... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163 "2009-02-16T20:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/61 "2009-02-23T15:38:18Z")
> [@](#): > > I should’ve thought before posting a joke reply to something could’ve been something really wrong medically. Sorry. Lol, no worries, I became ill way after your joke so don’t worry!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/62 "2009-02-25T21:28:59Z")
Well it is now Wednesday evening and so ‘the favour’ can be revealed and followed up! My Dad, as many of you now know, is **NineToTheSky** and is a regular Doper. Today it is his and my Mum’s 25th wedding anniversary. My sister and I wanted to do something really special for them both because they are such amazing, inspiring parents. We decided to give them several presents today and two which they will get over the weekend (they are having a weekend away together)…I bought a beautiful photo album/scrapbook which has 30 pages in it. I found a photo from every year of their marriage of either them together or the four of us and devoted a page of the album to that year. I also put in photos of them before they got married as teenagers. The photos of their marriage ranged from 1984 (on the day they got married) to 2009 and included the days when my sister and I were born, holidays and different houses we have lived in. I love seeing how everything gradually changes throughout the years. Dad’s sunglasses in the 80’s are hilarious. We then enlarged a recent picture of the two of them and put it in a silver photo frame. Finally, and this is where you all came in, we decided to give them a good bottle of wine. My Dad used to be a wine merchant and so wine is a passion for both of them. I don’t drink and my sister is only 18 so I thought they would be touched if we bothered to find a wine they really enjoy. I tried to do as much research as possible on what to get and this included badgering mum in the supermarket wine aisles, asking relatives and friends what they thought they like and of course asking all of you for your advice. However because of Dad using the Dope regularly I didn’t want to post a thread about wine because I knew he would automatically know what I was up to. Hence why I asked someone to do it for me. I had over 50 pm’s so thank you very much to everyone who replied. I was touched by the number of responses. **MasterofNone** was the kind doper who started the thread about how to buy wine, and the responses were very helpful. Huge thank you’s to **MasterofNone** and everyone who replied to the thread. In the end I bought a bottle Nuits-Saint-Georges 2000. They were both extremely happy with this. I wanted to go to a specialist wine shop but because I was ill I ended up getting it from a supermarket which doesn’t sound so good really…but the end product is the same so it doesn’t matter where it comes from! Mum gave Dad a bottle of Condrieu 2005 and Dad gave Mum a gold and diamond ring that she has been drooling over for a while now (and really wasn’t expecting to get). They are off on Friday to enjoy the weekend together. So thank you to everyone for helping to make my parents’ day very happy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/63 "2009-02-25T21:30:58Z")
Awww. 🙂 We were glad to help. ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/64 "2009-02-25T21:45:44Z")
Happy to help! ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/65 "2009-02-26T02:42:12Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/66 "2009-02-26T05:16:24Z")
Happy Anniversary NineToTheSky an Hipposmom! Glad you are feeling better Hippos. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/67 "2009-02-26T05:33:42Z")
Aw, that’s so sweet. (I bet having you home safe from the hospital’s the favorite gift of the day, though.) {{{{ **Hippos** }}}} ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/68 "2009-02-26T05:49:54Z")
How nice! Happy Anniversary! Hope you get well soon. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/69 "2009-02-26T09:11:20Z")
What a lovely thing to do! And many congrats to Mr and Mrs **NineToTheSky** , hope you both had a wonderful day. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/70 "2009-02-26T09:14:20Z")
That story was well worth the wait, Hippos. Although I am so sorry you fell ill in the process, I’m so glad you are better and that your parents had a lovely anniversary. The album will be a cherished gift. Kudos to you and your sister for being so thoughtful, and please continue to be well. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/71 "2009-02-26T10:05:38Z")
What a marvellous story. And a cunning plan. It is a shame you were in intensive care right in the middle of it, but good to see all is well again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/72 "2009-02-26T10:10:54Z")
Cool Warm and Fuzzy Story! Glad everything is well for you. (Love your user name, BTW, Hippos!) ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/73 "2009-02-26T10:38:26Z")
I’m only here because of the thread title/username combo. I thought the favor would be to remove hippos from a garden. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/74 "2009-02-26T11:59:23Z")
We had a lovely evening yesterday, and Mrs Nine and I are really looking forward to our weekend by the sea, at one of our favourite places in England. We are both really touched by **Hippo** ’s presents. There was obvioulsy a huge amount of thought and hard work done in compiling the photo album. I said it to her last night, and I say it again: it’s one of the nicest presents I have ever had, and Mrs Nine and I will treasure it forever. I love the idea of getting the help from you, dear Dopers, to help find a good wine. So thank you all for offering help, and special thanks to \*\*MasterofNone \*\* for posting it. It takes really special children to to show the love and care that they have shown. We’re very lucky to have them. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/75 "2009-02-26T14:33:33Z")
Maybe I’m just a big ol’ softy, but I just read through the entire thread for the first time (don’t know how I missed it before) and I’ve got tears in my eyes. The good kind of tears. _sniff_ ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/76 "2009-02-26T20:08:47Z")
I just finished reading this thread and couldn’t help but say "awww"out loud when I read the explanation post. That was so sweet. Glad you’re home and recovering, **Hippo**. Happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. **Nine**. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/77 "2009-02-26T20:22:46Z")
> [@](#): > > It takes really special children to to show the love and care that they have shown. We’re very lucky to have them. Aww thank you Dad 🙂 🙂 (We should stop being so sweet now to each other because we are going to wreck our super cool images on here and people are going to start throwing up soon). > [@](#): > > I thought the favor would be to remove hippos from a garden. Maybe you guys could get to work on that next week for me?! > [@](#): > > Maybe I’m just a big ol’ softy, but I just read through the entire thread for the first time (don’t know how I missed it before) and I’ve got tears in my eyes. The good kind of tears. _sniff_ Sorry to make you teary eyed! I love being nice to people though 🙂 I had my iron transfusion today and so should start feeling fabulous soon. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/78 "2009-02-26T20:24:47Z")
My hippo net is around here somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163/79 "2009-02-26T20:26:37Z")
> [@](#): > > My hippo net is around here somewhere… Now, you realise that if you fulfill this favour you will have to change your name to ‘MasterofFavours’! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-need-a-favour/486163.md?page=3)