Happy Birthday Mom!
I slept late today, almost 6:00. I'm sipping some good English (well, Indian Assam) tea. The tea they proclaim as Scottish makes Lipton taste flavourful.
 | We have a window and door looking in on a beautiful garden within the "Protected Zone" behind the solid blocks of buildings and impenetrable Botanic Garden hedges and fences. But neither the door nor window will open. The zone is still safe from the invading hordes. |
I forgot to get granola yesterday so I walked back to the store. I came pretty close with some meusli and got some mandarin/raspberry/grape juice.
In Oxford, people might make brief eye contact or a hint of a nod when you pass on the street, but never say a word (except in the dog park). In Painswick a hearty good
We had the breakfast we've been waiting for (basically anything in pajamas and bare feet). It was perfect.
In our own good time we walked across the street paid £2.30 each for all day bus passes and went to the zoo. The ringtail lemurs were a big hit, they had a wonderful habitat and seemed very happy, scampering around and messing with each other while the handlers talked about them. Apparently they're reproducing so well in captivity that they currently have only males in the habitat. They can't reintroduce them to their natural habitat because it is disappearing too quickly.
   | Several other monkeys were fun. The white rhino was gone but the replacement was trying to live up to the reputation. The penguins were the big draw, especially during the penguin walk when a flock of zoo wranglers herded a gaggle of penguins through the throngs. The emperor penguin required his own handler and did not want to cooperate. There was a sign in the chimp area promising the world's finest chimp environment in the future. (The current arrangement was barely adequate.) Barbara found someone in the Scotland Zoological Society in the Mansion House who explained the plans and gladly accepted her donation in Mom's name. (Happy birthday, Mom.) We decided to forego the take-away hotdogs and found a nice deserted cafe in the Mansion House. Barbara had a chunk of salmon on salad, I had a steak and ale pie. It was basically a bowl of very good beef stew with a wonderfully flaky crust sealing the top. The potatoes, carrots and snowpeas were on the side rather than contaminating the beef. |
It was a long bus ride to the zoo but we nevertheless decided to walk home. We walked too far along a busy road but finally found the Water of Leith Walkway. The walkway is a cool quiet escape from the raucous city on all sides. Most of the time when we passed a busy street it was high above us. We originally planned to walk to Leith, the old port, but every sign we saw said we were four miles away. By the time it finally changed to 3, we had changed our minds. The fish was disagreeing with Barbara and we stopped for a bathroom and some water. To gain access to those, we also had some bottled lemonade, thick fresh-squeezed orange juice and little risotto balls filled with mozzerella, peas and ham.
We continued along the path till we got to the street to home. We turned the wrong way and went another mile or so to the market for things to soothe Barbara's belly. On the way back down we stopped at Mario's for take-away calzone and dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), just in case she felt better. We got a mixed meat and veg calzone and the one who didn't speak english eagerly began it by grabbing a large handful of jalapenos.
Barbara carried the groceries home while I waited for our dinner. A bus came by as I left Marios and I hopped a ride the last mile or two. Barbara had the key and I pounded and pounded on the door. I was heading for the bar to try for a spare key when I saw Barbara walk up, consider the gate and start to walk on. She'd been lost and wandering.
It didn't seem like we'd eaten as much as it does reading this day's journal. We hungrily wolfed the calzone, delicious in spite of the peppers, and tried to savor the dolmas but they were just too good.
I noticed that my little toenail looked strange and on inspection noticed that I had a huge blister on the bottom of the toe. I decided (because I am the decider) that putting a used teabag on the blister while I watched tv would be a good idea. It shrank quite a bit by the time I tired of tv.
Mileage - 11.3
