Zoo Day No 1

Who goes to a long awaited Zoo Day with a flat camera battery?

Moi. Duh!

I did check the wee green battery icon at home, and it looked fine. As soon as I'd taken a couple of shots of the rhinos - red flashing icon! Bu**er!

Double bu**er when, during the talk on mammals, the presenter had brought the cutest wee tenrec, like a tiny wee hedgehog. She came around to show us up close and we could take photos. Those of us with functioning cameras, that is... And she had a three banded pangolin. She put him down and he shuffled off at high speed like a wee wind-up toy. He's just become a daddy!

The flash new meerkat enclosure at the entrance (with glass walls) was empty. Apparently the little sods have been digging in the tree roots and causing mayhem. So the state-of-the-art enclosure is not fit for purpose.

When I came home I took Archie out for a walk. Not just any walk - a No Pulling On The Lead walk. Croftcrafts recommended her method - hold a stick or some such in front of him, so that he can't surge ahead. And it worked! I dreamt during the night that, instead of a stick (which would be construed as a game by Archie) I used my hill climbing stick, which, as you can imagine, has been well used. (Not).

It was ideal - light to hold in front of him, and then useful as I trudged in the Meadows. Archie had his run around, meeting a couple of dogs, chasing some seagulls, eating lots of discarded rubbish. He has learned that benches generally (and disgustingly) have bits of food and interesting (to dogs) rubbish.

So you have the rhino. Not as cute as the tenrec or the three banded pangolin. But they're all mammals - they all have hair. The rhino's horn is hair. Even a blue whale has hair - its baleen plates, and it has eyelashes.