A Zoo Day and Second Hand Books

I guess that a lot of families, "make plans for the weekend". Not us! We never much seem to plan what we're doing, just wander through the weekend, taking it as we find it.

Yesterday found us at the zoo. We are very fortunate to live a mile from Edinburgh Zoo, home to many endangered species. Edinburgh Zoo is on a hill in the middle of the city. In the penguin picture you can see how close the houses in the background are - just a stone wall separates their gardens from the zoo. It would be nice to live there, so close to the penguins, and be able to see them from your bedroom window, maybe with binoculars, or night vision binoculars even, lol.

The penguins are always a favourite at the zoo. They have a large enclosure, with a long, deep pond. At one end there is a viewing hut packed full of info on penguins - if you crouch down in front of the window, you are at penguin level. In the middle there is a pedestrian walkway over the pond, so that you can look down and see them swimming, swooping and diving from one end of the pool to the other. Sometimes a group of penguins dive into the water together and swim up and down the pond, very fast, together, swooping and diving. At the other end, you can walk down the hill and there are viewing windows, into the pond like the ones you get in some competition swimming pools, so that you can see the penguins flying underwater.

Edinburgh participates in breeding programmes, to help out species like the Koala Bear, now sadly threatened in its homeland. Edinburgh is fortunate to have two koalas in residence at the moment - "Teddy! Teddy" shouted the toddler.

I drive my husband crazy with my book-mania. Many a midnight has seen me wailing about not having anything to read, like an alcoholic needing a drink - I've got NOTHING to read - I shout. Fairly unlikely I think in a house with literally thousands of books, but there you go, and the long suffering lives-with-a-bookaholic husband goes with me to the late night supermarket to get me a book or two. So, just-in-case I need a book or two, I say, and ever mindful that I'm not allowed to buy anything unless it is thrifted, as they say in the US, or second-hand as we say here, I popped into my favourite bookshop. Shelter is a UK charity which helps the homeless and their local bookshop is excellent. Ten minutes, and five pounds later, and I'm out, clutching an F.Scott Fitzgerald, and a V.S.Naipaul, and a Spike Milligan for my dad.

Toxic Information and Penguin Birthday Parties

There's just too much bad news around. I don't think that in itself is a new thing. Bad news has always sold newspapers. When did I change from being someone who bought a paper every week or so, and listened to the news if it happened to be on while I was in the room, to being the person I am now.

I read four national news sites and one local site, sometimes "checking the news" every few hours, or even more. Sometimes if I'm crocheting or browsing the web in a room with a television, I leave the news programme on, and it spins round and I realise I'm listening to the same news as an hour ago. I think that it is the result of September 11th - the images of that horrible day are seered into the minds of so many. And I think because of that I have to "check the news" just in case I need "to do something". You see, at 3am, that "do something" becomes "fleeing the city with my children" or some other unlikely scenario, that plays itself over and over in my head. I wasn't even there and that is the long term effect on me: I hate to think of the trauma of people who were directly involved.

There are several things I've seen or heard in news programmes or seen on news websites, or even read in fiction books that have stayed in my head for a long time, some maybe forever, and they're not very positive. I could really have lived my life without seeing or hearing them. I'm not going to give examples or go into detail because then they would be in your head, but I'm sure you have your own examples.

I'm not advocating an ostrich stick your head in the sand approach either. It is impossible not to hear of any big events, but so many of the news items we hear about, I can personally do nothing about.

I don't want to get philosophical about the reasons : I've just come to the realisation that there is too much bad news getting into my head, so I'm going to try to stop watching TV news and browsing newspaper websites, and buying those paperbacks in the supermarket which always have a gruesome death or incident on the back cover to draw you in. That should save me: I would guess - yikes £100 a year - considering all the times I'm buying my groceries and I just have to have a book, and they're cheap so might as well get two. I'm not an unhappy person, but surely all this bad news must take its toll - no more.

So in a completely unrelated kind of way, here's a picture of two gorrillas turning up for the baby penguin's party on the back of reindeers :) Otherwise known as : Don't buy lots of expensive toys - a box of plastic animals can have hours of fun playing with children of all ages.

Another great way I have found of keeping a toddler busy for free, is to let them play in the sink. All little kids love this, and will happily splash around in a bubble enfested sink with whisks and measuring spoons and funnels for ages, whilst Mummy sits with her feet up on a chair watching, eating a big cream bun and drinking a coffee (in my dreams). Just make sure they can't turn the hot tap on and don't take your eye off them in case they fall in and drown, or more likely: try to eat the bubbles. Health and Safety advice courtesy of my dad who always likes to remind us of all eventualities.