(oops this has been sitting in my drafts, I thought I’d posted it)
Not Christmas gone, but the one before “Nanny Penny” bought TBK a voucher to become a zoo keeper for the day at Dudley Zoo.
It was going to be awesome we were going to book it and we were going to spend a lovely day meandering around and watch TBK play with the animals all day, but then the rain came, and last summer it rained, and rained, and rained, and rained and just to be helpful, as the deadline grew nearer for the voucher to be used it rained some more. So, being the diligent parents we are we promptly called the zoo and brought an extension with the hope that a time would come when the rain stopped and we could go.
Finally it did, things started looking brighter and more importantly dryer so we made the booking, set the date and forged ahead; But wouldn’t you know it as the date came around it bloody poured down again, but, we thought FUCK IT and went anyway.
TBK got up close and personal with with some animals, Some he was a lot happier around than others:
He met a rat ( he only wanted to hold it to upset Mom, who doesn’t really like Rats)…
…a chinchilla (his favourite)…
…Mr Lizard …
…a tapir (who is famous, apparently she’s from Longleat and was featured on Animal Park)…
…The Red Panda AKA The Firefox (the geek in me liked this)…
…and the penguins (his all time favourite part of the day).
All the animals had names but I’m damned if I can remember them now.
It was (despite the rain and me getting ill) a lovely day and TBK had a wonderful experience, made all the nicer for him (and us) by the lovely staff he accompanied. They were very informative and answered any questions he (or we) had about breeding programs, conservation etc. and the zoo in general, for instance; Did you know that most the buildings and animal enclosures are listed buildings, hence the desperate need for renovation but lack of planning permission! I didn’t, I feel slightly guilty for judging them over the state of the place now. Even better though, while there even I made some new friends.
