A Panda moves!

No swimming this morning. The wee cooncil pool was not so appealing, and it's too much of a rush to go to the Commie Pool and leave for the Zoo by 9.30. I love a leisurely breakfast (porridge and a coffee) with the radio on, checking out the news on my iPad. I'm retired. I do not want to rush breakfast.

And anyway, this morning there was something much more exciting. Snow! Well, not actually snow, although a smidgen had fallen during the night. It was ice. That meant I could wear my new purple grape wellies outside!

I took an earlier bus into town, hoping to get a shot of the sun peeping over the castle with a dusting of snow everywhere. No sun. What snow/frost there was, was rapidly melting.

Our Zoo talk today was very interesting, as usual. It was about the use of Social Media. The young woman in charge of Communications spoke for an hour. She showed this YouTube movie, with loads of really interesting statistics.

I booked a time to see the pandas. They've been the biggest event last year and really boosted the number of visitors to the Zoo. Only 9 zoos have pandas, so it's a great honour, apparently. I was quite excited to see these fabled creatures who feature on every single item in the Zoo shop.

Well, I'm afraid I was totally underwhelmed. I knew they famously did nothing. Just sat and ate. Or slept. The chap panda (Yang Guang) was sitting away in the dark corner, under his bed platform eating. His missus (Tian Tian) in a separate enclosure, was curled up sleeping.

The windows were smeary and steamed up, so taking photos wasn't proving too successful. A toddler, whom I'd heard wailing loudly as I walked through the zoo to the panda enclosure, suddenly appeared (with his parents!) still wailing. He was plonked right beside me at the window, so not only the smeary windows (didn't know if it was panda smear on the other side or toddler smear on the viewing side) but a screaming toddler in my ear - and the reflection of his jacket on the window- made me go and stand by Mrs Panda.

She was sleeping. I took a few photos of a black and whitish lump of fur. No, I was thinking the blip today will have to be those crazy cranes I'd passed earlier. A few more photos of a slightly different shaped furry lump, and I was about to give up, when she moved! She stood up, stretched, and curled up again. But I got her! So she's IT today.

By the time I came out of the talk, it was bright sunshine and I felt a bit overdressed in my big wellies.

I love my new wellies, but it's bliss to take them off after clomping round all day in them, so I've got my baffies on now. I think I'll do a Mrs Panda. Snooze for the afternoon.