Gorillas In The Cold And Rain
Even the gorillas were braving the weather.
It just shows what a lot of softies we’ve become! Although, I will admit one or two did prefer to be inside in the warm.
Tigers Must Be Tougher Than We Are!
I popped into the Tiger Territory at the zoo and was half expecting to find that the tigers were fast asleep in the warm somewhere!
But as the pictures show, at least the male tiger; Jae Jae, was showing himself off.
But we mustn’t forget that tigers aren’t averse to water and have regularly been seen in snow in Siberia in wildlife programmes.
On the other hand, these are Sumatran tigers, more used to sun and rain than snow!
It was also rather pleasing to see that there were quite a few visitors. Many seemed to be from overseas. I actually talked to some Germans, Ecuadorians and Chinese, who’d come to London for Christmas.
Some Lively Colobus Monkeys
London Zoo has a group of black and white colobus monkeys.
The weather seemed to have no effect on them. Although, when I took the pictures, there does seem to be blue sky above.
The Penguins Were Being Penguins
What else is there to say about London Zoo’s mainly home-bred show-offs?
Even with the temperature in single-figures they weren’t bothered.
Londoners Are Wimps About Shopping!
This morning I needed a few things at Waitrose, so I did what C and I used to do in Suffolk. I went to the store at the Angel early about an hour after it opened. It was very uncrowded. In Suffolk, half the population would have been there, as they all generally getup early.
But obviously they don’t in London. Coming back, the bus had about five passengers.
Logging In In France
On my recent trip to Bilbao and back, I spent three days in France and on the two mornings in Biarritz, I checked some of my Internet accounts, from a computer in the hotel’s Business Centre.
My major accounts have a system of logins and passwords that are stored in my Mark One brain, which means it is a system that is unbreakable without my being present. Nothing is written down, on or in anything I carry.
However, France with its bizarre keyboard layout, made some of the logins difficult. For instance to login to many accounts, you need to type an e-mail address, but that is not easy, as typing the @ sign is not a simple shift, but a control-alt keystroke.
Sometimes, France can get very annoying in the simplest of things, by going its own sweet way.
Vincent Tan Was Right
Yesterday, Cardiff City played in their traditional blue colours against Liverpool. So Vincent Tan is in some ways right, as Cardiff lost badly. Obviously, the shirts are not lucky, like red ones are.
There was a joke going Portman Road yesterday, that Mick McCarthy had been asked to be the next Cardiff manager. Apparently, he’d told Vincent Tan in his most polite Yorkshire-Irish way, that he wasn’t interested in the job.
You Don’t Say No to Suffolk
I don’t drink much spirit, but I do like the odd glass of whisky. So I was pleased that the new Adnams whisky is now available.
I first read about the availability of the whisky in this article in The Times. The article tells how it is illegal for spirit and beer to be made on the same site, due to a law dating from the 1700s.
What Adnams did is outlined in this paragraph from the article.
Although the law had never been repealed, Mr Adnams tested its validity by submitting an application to HM Revenue & Customs. “We got a reply in only three months saying yes,” he said.
No-one in his right mind, ever says no to an obviously sensible suggestion from supposedly sleepy Suffolk.
I’m looking forward to getting a bottle!
It may be a novelty to most of the world, but when I started drinking Adnams bitter, they only had thirteen pubs and supplied a few clubs in the local area.
The Scots will not be quaking in their boots yet, but then Watneys thought they could crush this then tiny brewery from Southwold, by buying many of East Anglian’s breweries, including all in Norfolk. Red doors are still associated with bad beer and service all over East Anglia.
It’s All A Bit Of A Doddle!
Many of those of my generation remember British Rail’s Red Star Parcels service with affection.
If you wanted to get a parcel from say Ipswich to London, you’d go to their office at Ipswich station, deliver the parcel and pay your fee, and it would be on the next train to London. The consignee would then go to Liverpool Street and collect the parcel later.
It worked well and was probably quicker than anything today, except for a courier taking a hig speed form of transport.
I remember in one instance, our McClaren baby buggy broke in about 1972. They told us to send it by Red Star to Derby, which we did. They repaired it and sent it back by another train the same afternoon.
Does anybody offer such customer service today?
Red Star is now long gone, but I was interested to see that Network Rail is introducing a parcel sending and receiving service called Doddle.
I doubt it would help me, as there isn’t a main line station close to my house. Unless it grows to use large Overground or Underground stations like Dalston Junction. After all, they could use the Ticket Office, when it closes.
But it would be an ideal service for those that pass through such a station on their way to or from work.
Will we see the like of Red Star again? I doubt it will come back everywhere, but on fully-crewed trains, it might return, as how else would you be able to get something really important from say Liverpool to London in under three hours.
Whoever thoght of the name; Doddle, deserves at least an OBE. But I suspect the man backing the scheme; Lloyd Dorfman, who might have thought of the name wouldn’t accept it, as he already has a CBE.
The Anonymous Widower 