Cheeky Monkey

I was at the Zoo for an early shift this morning, and I arrived before the Zoo opened so I was able to have a wander before any visitors appeared which was nice.  It was already hot, so a lot of the animals were indoors, but I chatted with one of the keepers who was giving a falcon a flight before the zoo opened, the deer were at the top of the field and were close to the fence and an ostrich decided to come for a walk with me. It's obviously feeding time around that time, so the animals that were out were more responsive to me. The ostrich followed me as I was walking, so I started talking to it, and as I changed direction it came with me, so I walked back in the opposite direction and it came again.  It kept doing it and eventually when I walked off, it followed me for a while, it was so funny.

I was stationed at the Chimp House again today, but they chose to stay indoors where their dens are, so weren't particularly visible - there's just one window where you can look through.  Tuppence was sat at the window with baby Dalasi and when I went over, she looked me straight in the eye and pointed her finger.  I knew she wanted to see me phone, so I got it out and showed her the photos as she kept trying to swipe the screen.  A guy turned up with his kids so I moved out of the way and I told him that she likes mobile phones and likes to see the photos, so he got his out and she did the swiping of her finger for him - he loved it!

Luckily there was quite a bit of shade at the Chimp house, but at 11.45am I went over to Reptiles to swap with David.  Margaret who's in charge of the volunteers has asked that if we possibly can during the hot weather and school holidays to swap part way through to vary what we do, which I think is a good idea.  Unfortunately though, there was no shade at Reptiles, so it felt very hot!  

One thing the Zoo were  concerned about is visitors from England coming and not realising that the Covid rules are different in Wales - here measures haven't been eased the same and social distancing and face coverings are still mandatory.  So they are expecting visitors to arrive not realising and not having masks.  There were a few and I had to explain, and pointed them in the direction of the shop where we sell masks, but on the whole people were fine, and in fact one couple told me they felt much safer here - they'd been to Chester Zoo (in England) earlier in the week and said they just opened the doors and let everyone pile in with no controls in place.

I finished my shift at 12.30pm, and went for another wander with my camera but I didn't stay too long due to the heat, plus the fact that most animals were still indoors.  This little cheeky Tamarind monkey didn't mind being outside though and was quite happily eating his lunch, they're cute little things.

On my way home, I stopped off at Aldi where the middle aisle struck again lol!  I got a paddling pool, beach shoes and an outdoor skittles game for the girls, I had been looking for a pool for them, and it was a bargain!  The rest of the afternoon was spent gardening and by the time I'd finished, I wanted to blow up the pool and get in it, I was sweltering!  But I had two meals to make, the dinner for tonight and also for tomorrow night as I'm out tomorrow with mum and then picking the girls up after school, and in the evening Clare, Mike and Lara are coming round for dinner.  There's no way I'd have time to cook before they arrive, so I've made my butternut squash lasagne as it's always better the next day.  I really was hot by the time I'd finished all this but by the time we sat down to eat outside, the sun had moved and a layer of cloud had come over, so it felt much cooler.