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Unusual places to park #1…

A bad day for zoo keepers…

Today we went to ‘Amazon World’ on the east of the island, and were very pleasantly surprised. We expected it to be a little park with a few animals and things, but it was full on zoo stuff, with loads of different areas for the different types of animal.

Although we enjoyed ourselves, the zoo-keepers clearly had other things on their minds. The woman who served us on the way in tried to give us the previous customer’s change, somebody acidentally let 2 doves escape from one of the jungle enclosures (they were free flying around you as you walked through), and to top it off, someone left a tap running in an enclosure in the dungeon section (where they keep the bats etc) and so that had to be closed temporarily.

Aside from all this excitement, I would thouroughly recommend it as a day out. I was just bummed that I missed the penguin feeding.

The Beach-Towel Mambo

After our experience on the beach yesterday, we decided to buy another bodyboard that we’d spotted at a local chandlrey in Yarmouth. It was better quality than the cheap ones we’d left at home, so it seemed worth it.

After a relatively lazy day we went to the beach again, and it seems that I’ve finally found the knack for this bodyboarding lark. After ages of failing to surf more than a few feet I managed several very long waves. The fact that the waves were bigger than I’ve boarded on before probably helped a lot.

Being on the beach again gave me some more time to observe some of the different techniques to changing behind a towel. There are some interesting variations on which bits of the towel to grab, or getting friends/parents/spouses to grab things for you. The differences between male and female methods are interesting too. Some styles appear to have been carefully choreographed to create added hilarity to the situation. Maybe one day I’ll film someone changing and set the footage to a mambo style soundtrack or something.

hmm… maybe not.
edit: – Warning to those considering taking up body-boarding: Damage to the nipples may be incurred ~ouch!~

Forgotten Something?..

You know that feeling that you’ve forgotten something every time you go on holiday? Well, we left our bodyboards behind (nothing as important as a child – like the family in Home Alone – Although having seen the film, it must have been intentional. I’d have left him too…).

So there we were this evening, waist deep in the English Channel, big waves crashing around us, looking like a right pair of plebs. There were surfers, kayakers (is that a word?) and boyboarders enjoying the waves all along the beach, and us kicking ourselves. After some swimming and a few vain attempts at body-surfing (i.e. no board, and ending up like a beached whale), we called it a night.

There was a plus side to the evening though. While relaxing after the swim, I noticed quite how funny it looks when people try and get changed on the beach with a towel as their only shelter. No-one was revealing flesh so there was nothing pervy about it, I just hadn’t previously realised how comical it was. We’ve all done it, myself included, and I’m sure we all look like prats. It bring to mind the image that cartoonists use to depict a scrap. Arms and legs sticking out all over the place. Still, it’s either that or just get naked on the beach!

Fire Hazard

This weekend Sarah (my wife) and I are celebrating our 2nd anniversay by going to the Isle of Wight for a long weekend. The first place we went today was Carisbrooke castle, where you can have a look at the ruins and learn about medievil life.

The main attraction is a big wooden wheel which is turned hamster-fashion by a donkey, on the day we visited ‘Jack’ was the donkey in question. The purpose of this huge device was to raise and lower a bucket into a well. It would take the donkey 37 revoloutions of the wheel to get the bucket all the way down, and then up the well to retrieve one bucket of water. Presumably this was just enough for the donkey to drink having exerted every ounce of energy in his body to get the damn thing! All hell must’ve broken loose when there was a fire…