Home from my mini holiday

I spent my birthday back in Dover, having a week away from work. It was lovely to spend the Sunday with not only mum & dad but Jeremy, Helen and James as well. A bottle of champagne from J & H added a sparkle to the party! It was lovely too, to be serenaded by Emmy all the way from Brunei on the "big day" itself! Later I enjoyed a chilly outing with mum & dad to Port Lympne Wildlife Park. The sun shine was pleasant but the wind was definately cool, so not surprisingly a lot of the animals were a little reluctant to come out and play for the benefit of visitors. Nevertheless we enjoyed watching the gorillas amusing themselves (one thought it a good idea to try and shower us with bits of wind blown straw!), and later eating their afternoon snacks (walnuts, raisons). I discovered that Dian Fossey's description of gorillas odour as "barn yard" was quite apt.
It was also nice to see various types of monkey, one or two small cats (including the fishing cat, found in South East Asia), several barabary lions and some tigers, asian elephants etc.
Leaving Dover on Wednesday (16th) I stopped for lunch with Jeremy, Helen and James, made a brief visit to Reading shopping centre and then stopped again for a birthday tea for the four year old son of a friend. It was good to catch with everyone.
Next morning, back in dear old Gloucestershire I collected my spare keys from my "cat-sitter" who asked me "Have you looked in your pond?". I hadn't, but soon did and lo and behold its got frogspawn in! Let's hope the on-coming cold snap doesn't kill too many of them!