Something that I didn't see at the zoo

A Trip To The Zoo

Me and the girlfriend both had the day off on Friday, so seeing as the weather was nice, and even though I'm still recovering from a stupid virus, both decided that a leisurely trip to the London Zoo would be in order.

Neither of us had been there since we were wee nippers, so we decided to make like tourists and met up in Baker Street, bought sandwiches, sat in Regents Park watching the ducks waddle by and then, with our bellies full, waddled off ourselves to the zoo to walk it all off.

I'd done a quick search on the internet beforehand to check out prices (adults 14.50 or 16.00 with a donation to their Gorilla Action programme) and had even managed to find a 2 for 1 offer so long as you had a valid train ticket. Result! I bought a travelcard and we saved a tenner on entry.

As a backup, I had known that the ZSL website advertises that if you buy your ticket on the internet, you can save 10% and go in a fast track queue.

As I said, both of us hadn't been there for over 20 years, possible even 25. The last time that I went to London zoo, I remember crossing the road with my mum and seeing Mike Reid in the car that had stopped to let us by. I paused in the road and tried to explain to my mum who he was. "The man from 'Runaround', mum." He laughed jovially at me and my mum dragged me away and off to the main attraction of the day, the zoo.

We had deliberately planned to go when we knew that there were no school holidays, and definitely not on a weekend and boy did that pay off, big time!

No queues whatsoever and a very quiet zoo overall. The fast track queue was redundant. Definitely no having to fight our way through school kids or anything like that. It was really pleasant for us to be able to stroll hand in hand (yes, we still do that) around the zoo, taking our time and enjoying everything.

A strange youthful excitement filled us as we walked around. We were so happy together and both felt younger too, like we had when we were last here.

It made sense to follow a green route painted around the zoo which is suggested as the best way of seeing the whole zoo. So we worked our way around and saw giraffes, zebras, flying birds of every colour and sound, penguins, butterflies (landing on us as we walk through through their are), anteaters, snakes, fish, iguanas, camels (well out of spitting distance! ), bugs of every sort, cute blind vole type things (the name of which I can't remember but they shovel sand backwards down see-through pipes all day long, hippos, monkeys galore, tigers, lions and last but most certainly not least, the three lovely gorillas in the new "Gorilla Kingdom." That you get to stand less than a foot away from, should they decide to come up to you (and they did.)

It was brilliant!

We left just as the zoo was closing and heading up Primrose Hill to chill out for a bit, as the other half had never been up there, and I didn't think that we were knackered enough!

We ended the day making up for all the lost calories by stuffing our faces in TGI Fridays in Piccadilly.

I was feeling rather hot by now as my virus temperature thing had returned but had had a really good day regardless. Beats sitting in the office any day!

Half Dead on the London Underground

Have just started reading this.

Synopsis:
"London. Now. Terrorism is rife, but after today, your life may never be the same again. A ballerina, Romany, gets on a train in the London Underground, and a strange gas attack turns her into a half-dead vampire."

"During the containment and cleanup of this attack, she's captured by a government agency formed to battle the vampire threat, PASA (the Bureau of ParaHuman and Supernatural Affairs). Romany's a remarkable subject, and after some training she is paired with her handler, Ian, also one of a very few survivors of a vampire attack. Ian turns her into a force to be reckoned with...The cogs of an evil machine are turning within the winding streets of London; disaster looms on the horizon; they can strike anywhere at any time. What are PASA willing to do to stop them?"

Sounds stupid but looks really cool.

Postscript: As it turns out the writing in this graphic novel was a bit rubbish. Probably won't bother with the next one in the series.

Yummy Yummy Yummy

This song has been stuck in my head for the last day.
It's playing over some advert on TV at the moment but it's also such a happy song that I can't shake it off!

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I got love in my tummy
And I feel like a-lovin you
Love, you're such a sweet thing
Good enough to eat thing
And it's just a-what I'm gonna do

Ooh love to hold ya
Ooh love to kiss ya
Ooh love I love it so

Ooh love you're sweeter
Sweeter than sugar
Ooh love
I wont let you go

Busy doing nothing

Hmmmm, I'm struggling to find time to sit down and blog and sometimes it's not because my time is full up with lots of other interesting things but rather because my time is filled up with nothing.

Or rather a desire to be doing absolutely nothing.

I have a huge list in my head of all the things I should be doing, from stuff to do around the flat (and de-cluttering it is a bit one) right through to job, relationship and other future ponderings.

But it's a long list, that can seem overwhelming and so my brain kind of rejects those things and just says, "Switch off for a bit. You can always deal with those things later."

Eventually, of course, some things need to be dealt with sooner rather than later and so I'll get off me ass and do something.

Mostly, though, at the moment I don't.

Well, I do do some things, but they are mostly of the watch TV, chill out, play Guitar Hero II on my XBox360 variety, and they don't count.

"It's just a phase," I tell myself.

I hope that that's true.

Journey by a London Bus (1950)

In a perfect world that is!
(Spot the non-politically correct reference in this film!)

[Film unfortunately removed as it no longer works.]

Mind Boggling!

Tickling The Taco

Probably not an entirely "acurate" portrayal of what went on but gave me a good laugh at lunch time today.

A Michigan University frat house will throw out two couches tainted by a mystery masturbating female intruder who used the furniture for an extended public self-pleasuring session, The Michigan Daily reports.

The woman in question simply walked into Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house "without permission" last Thursday, "entered the house's living room, took off her clothes and started masturbating", according to shaken frat president Dan Nye.

Shocked frat members "asked the woman to leave the house, but she refused and continued masturbating for about half an hour". When pressed as to whether she felt ok, the beaver-petting stranger "casually replied that she was fine" and even made a quick call on her mobile phone while tickling the taco.

Frat members eventually called police, who arrived just after the bushwhacking stranger had made good her escape "wearing only a thigh-length black coat". The subsequent police report said the woman had told witneses she was called Melissa and was a student at Eastern Michigan University. She "appeared to be under the influence of drugs", the report notes.

Nye concluded: "Obviously, she was very disturbed. It was not how a normal person would respond to people."

No one is quite sure just how "Melissa" got into Pi Kappa Alpha's premises, but Nye rather brilliantly said "she could have entered through the front door, which was left propped open while it was being repaired".

Sourced from The Register, the original report is here.

MoanMoanMoan

We're still settling into the new building. From where I sit, by our company's "break out" area I am in the enviable position(!) of being able to hear what people are (mainly) moaning about.

So here for your reading pleasure are the (not very exciting) things that people moan and groan about for my listening pleasure every morning around the coffee machine.

Coffee
- It's not hot enough.
- It's too hot!
- It doesn't look the right colour.
- The machine isn't working, is it?
- It says that it needs cleaning.
- Where's that foreign guy who cleans it?
- Look, we've run out of milk again.
- Where's the milk?
- How does the machine work? I need training!

General Kitchen
- Why do they put all the glasses so high up?
- I can't reach them! I have to use the stepladder!
- Why is the kitchen arranged so badly?
- I have to go from one side to the other like a yo yo to get everything that I need.
- Where are the glasses/cups/plates?
- Why aren't there labels on the cupboards to help us find these things?
(I concur, some people are soooo noisy bashing cupboards around in their search.)
- The dishwasher is full, what do I do now? Shall I just leave my cup/plate/dish here?
- The kitchen is so dirty. Can't people clean up after themselves?

Air Con
- It's so hot, isn't it?
- It's bloody cold. I've not felt well since we've moved into this building.
- They said that they'd put the temperature up/down for us but a day later it just went back to the same temp that it was before.

Time for a change

Ah, today was April Fools day. 'Nuff said...