Friday, April 15, 2005

We Visit The Meerkats



...and I'm tired. The photograph above was not taken in Belfast Zoo but we did see some very similar looking fellows.

On Wednesday I went to Newry with Vancouver brother to pick up Reuben, who had been staying over with family. VB was tired of driving after having driven to and fro Dingle last week so I got to do it. Next day I got up at 5.30am to drive VB to the City Airport. Of course VB, the big Jessie, got into a tizzy about whether he was actually there on the right day. "Shall I wait?" I asked him. "No. Definitely not," he replied. "If I've got it wrong I'm holing up in a hotel, rearranging my flights and telling nobody." Bon Voyage Eamon. I'm sure you're safely back in Vancouver by now.

His stepson Reuben is staying on for a bit and had an extra day in Norn Iron before travelling to Manchester today to see daughters two and three. To kill his last day I said I'd take him to Belfast. We had no actual plan but I said it had all the usual city attractions, shops, museums, zoo... "Stop right there," Reuben said. "Don't you know I'm a big kid? Let's go to the zoo." So we did.

They're funny places zoos - a mixture of sadness and fun. Not so bad if you're a prairie dog, better than Chipperfield's if you're an elephant and pretty grim if you're a big cat. We avoided the big cats.

I enjoyed seeing the giraffes, the meerkats and the primates. The chimpanzees were shamelessly rude. They were all inside pleasuring themselves and each other. None were outside swinging through their playground. As Reuben said, "The chimps are all in the orgy room." Definitely no place for a an innocent child.

Today is Hannah's birthday. Thinking about you all day long pet.

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