Tropical House

I'm glad I wasn't drinking on Thursday night, because otherwise Friday morning would have seemed to be the greatest post-election hangover ever.

My sister Kate and her daughter arrived late on Thursday evening, and we sat up until about one or two, watching the first election results come in. By the time I got up on Friday, Scotland had turned yellow, Wales red, and England blue. A sad day to be living in England, I felt.

Kate and J met me after work (I had the afternoon free, yay!) and we headed off for Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. We saw the otters being fed, and visited the tropical house, where we saw the ducks (above), and fed some Hawaiian nenes, but my favourite part of the visit this time was the canoe safari. We didn't get far, because all the side alleys look the same in the backwaters, but it was tranquil, and next time I will have a better idea about what not to do! We paddled past a swan sitting on her nest, and pulled up aside several waterside windows into lake-level hides. I had thought I might be able to sit back and take photos, but that only goes to show how little I really know about canoeing!

In the evening we went out for wood-fired pizza at the Stroud Brewery, an artisan brewery which throws open its doors on a Friday evening. Strangely, the last time Kate and I had gone there, it was the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings, while this time it was the anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) day! I remember having Pont L'Eveque cheese from Normandy on last year's pizza, but this year there were no VE day specials. Possibly that was because so many people in Europe were starving, or at least going hungry, by the end of WW II.

So, that was our Friday. I still have quite a few blip days to catch up on.