Bartimaeus

We managed some joint socials in Edinburgh, beers with Cath and Michael; coffee (or chai latte in my case) with Jenny and Steve; dinner with Kenny and Helena. Last trip I had 3 days in a northern trip with friends with lots of walking and this time Shane had a northern trip with friends with lots of cycling. Nye and I had a day at the zoo. It is a long time since I have been but Nye has been going regularly with a friend and 2 year old niece. The friend has no wheelchair currently as it went for repair, so they were skipping the usual zoo trip . I enjoyed our day out and discovered getting all the way round is far quicker and easier without two small children. This time one of them (much bigger now) was guiding me around. A few things have moved, some are new,and some are where they have always been, like the Chilean flamingoes which include the oldest Edinburgh zoo inhabitant at eighty ears of age.  We tried to guess which one was the octogenarian.

At the other end of the age scale, there were some babies in the penguin enclosure, of varying stages. It was a very hot day for penguins and the nests were all shaded.

We got a good view of the red panda, which I remember hiding high up often. It’s name means bamboo eater so the panda connection is there plus the circles around its eyes but it is not actually a bear. It was no surprise to see the sloth looking sluggish though it must have moved as it was in a different place the second time we went to their enclosure. They were housed alongside the armadillos which were easily the most active of all the animals we saw. The koalas surprised me by not staying still. The young were pretty energetic. The koala bear isn’t a bear either.

The pair of sun bears were pacing and trotting around. They were both running bears. The panda was curled up and though a bear was also masquerading as a giraffe….or a giraffe was masquerading as a panda – in a statue named bamboozled. While the giraffes were unmistakable. I didn’t think they needed to be right at the top to get a fine view of the city.

Shane was only just back before we were returning but we had walk and got up close to the cygnets at Blackford pond.

Our journey went very smoothly and we got back the Thatcham earlier than planned. Our trip involved going through London but with no spare time. Shane was transporting a new (to him) set of wheels which added an extra challenge and I went in search of Paddington Bear.

I was aware it had been even hotter here than Edinburgh and wondered how the tomato plant had fared. I was delighted to find that the plant had grown a few inches and was very well watered. Wicking watering worked a treat so I am grateful for finding this old Indian practice. I am not sure I needed the polythene cover.