I Go To The Zoo With Jazzer

Jazzer and I have been friends for around thirty years. The first time we met was at Ghillies Bar near Cullybackey where her husband (Banjo Man) had a regular Thursday night gig as part of a Folk/Americana duo called Rustic Reality.  The guys had been to a couple of parties at our house and Jazzer has since told me that they had made so much of Nellybert that she was already prepared to dislike us - especially me. That first meeting happened and I wasn't what she expected, any more than she was what I expected. I was nearly forty, she was mid-twenties and we clicked, we clicked fast. Friends now for thirty years. Sometimes she annoys me, and sometimes I annoy her but the friendship is fast. We love each other. 

I said to her today,

When we first met, if someone had said to you, in thirty years' time when I'm almost 70 and we have eight grandchildren between us, that we'd go to the zoo on our own, with no one to hinder us and we'd have the best time. What would you have thought?

And she said,

I'd have thought that was crazy.

And I would have thought that too.

As always, the gorillas were my favourite place to be but no photographs. The place they live does not lend itself to pictures. I don't mind that.

Being Normal

We went to the zoo today, Martha and Hannah and Bert and I. And we had a most enjoyable day. Of course, like all right-thinking people, I'm in several minds about zoos - there are animals that seem to like it well enough and there are others that give me the impression that living in captivity isn't that great. The African wild dogs looked just like any depressed dog that has to live in a run. And the lowland gorillas looked as if their life was very dreary too. But Miss Martha knows nothing of these dilemmas and she mostly had a very good time. There was the problem of the hills that she kept wanting to run down and we kept not wanting her to for fear of falling over. There were still a few tumbles despite our best efforts. Sadly these occurred just around about the time we were seeing the ring-tailed lemurs which were my best thing. I loved it that they refused to be confined to their area and incorporated workmen's vans as a part of their territory. Big up to those workmen who were more than happy to share their van with their furry chums.

Part of our day out was in honour of Hannah who has a birthday tomorrow. Not a significant one as she's one year off that. But a birthday none the less. And Hannah, or Ha!, as Martha calls her, is a very good person to have around when Miss Martha is part of the company. Ha! has a certain energy and youthfulness that comes into good effect when Nellybert has a very energetic toddler to keep care of.

So. Being normal. A day at the zoo. Always in my mind when being normal is that Matty, the head of our family, our senior member is dying. And that her time on this earth is coming close, very close, to it's end. After our normal day out we called to the home place where Leitrim Sister, our Dee! is in charge and where Bert made Dee! a cup of tea and we talked with our Senior Martha and she was pleased to see us, particularly Miss Martha, and we relished it because soon, very soon she is going to be so preoccupied with her business of dying that she will not be able to welcome us like that.

But for now - being normal. It's the best we can do.