A day at the zoo

Thursday was the first really nice day since Tom's birthday, when we'd planned to take him to Dudley Zoo, so we thought better late than never, and set off with packed lunches. Being half-term, it was quite full for a weekday, but Tom was genuinely interested in some of the animals, but not as much as in the road train thing that transports kids around, which caused standstill, pointing, waving and even cheering whenever it was in sight. Some animals did hold his attention, such as the giraffe, which he seemed particularly in awe of, but others seemed to be of little interest, such as a trio of beautiful lynxes (see photo), from which he ran away at great speed. Incidentally, I now have to run, rather than walk briskly, to catch him when he legs it, which seems to be happening more and more frequently as he gets further into the terrible twos. We had a nice lunch by the lemur enclosure, had a quick peek at three very lazy (comatose) lions and headed into the big grassy area inside Dudley Castle, around which the zoo sprawls. We had the foresight to take his football, and he spent a wonderful 15 minutes throwing and kicking it all over the place, until another slightly older boy took a fancy to it and hoofed it into a fenced off area. After much apologising by the lad's mother, normal service was resumed. We went back to have another look at the previously immobile tiger (Makari, Jude's adopted tiger from WHF funnily enough), but he hadn't moved a whisker, and neither had the snow leopard next door, so it wasn't a great day on the big cat front, but on the plus side Tom walked/ran some serious distance and was asleep almost before we left the car park.

Today (Saturday), we undertook a mini tour of Shropshire, calling first for half an hour or so in Shrewsbury to pick up Japanese food supplies at Setonaikai and change a certain young man's underwear in M& S's loos, then on to Oswestry for lunch with Auntie Jude at Gillham's deli, makers of the best sausage rolls I've ever had. It was very nice nosh indeed - the sausage rolls were outstanding again, as were the onion rings, most of which were snaffled by a greedy boy (although he did manage to find room for a piece of millionaires shortbread). Following another change of undercrackers in the boot of the car in full view of the world in Oswestry's central car park, he nodded off fairly quickly upon departure, so we came back to Telford the slow, scenic route via Ellesmere, Wem & Shawbury rather than flogging down the A5 as usual. Thereafter, more nap, a play outside, tea and a Skype call with Granny & Grandpa before bath, bottle & bed.