Quick addition to Sunday's exploits: I realised as I was chatting to Lutra I should really have given some sort of idea of what varieties of sealife are at the SeaQuarium, so here's a short list...
At the entrance they had a cute little caiman with garnet coloured eyes. As well as the rays, eels and seahorses there were: scorpion fish, stone fish, a puffer fish, starfish, sea urchin, anemones, a tank of volitans (my favourite fish!), clown fish, piranhas, a cowfish (very odd creature...), little sharks, turbots (massive great things!), smasher shrimp, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs (those things that look like trilobites; "They've got lots of little feet underneath!" - Kai), glass fish, tetras, trigger fish, axolotls... oh, there were others, but I can't remember them all now! It was a fine selection from around the world, though.
On Tuesday we went to Wookey Hole as planned... Hn. Yes, it's an absolutely amazing place, and I'd heartily recommend it to anyone - except people like me who have a phobia about being underground. Especially in small places underground (which Wookey Hole isn't, particularly, but 'small' is a relative thing...) Add to this that the cave system was cut by the River Axe, which still flows (very fast and very deep and very strong) right the way through it, and that my nightmares since Kai was born have centred around him falling into fast cold water and me not being able to save him, and you can probably understand why I wasn't looking forward to that bit. But he enjoyed it, and we were all quite safe (the gantry bit that I wasn't looking forwards to was a lot more stable and secure than I remember it), so all in all it was a successful day, if a tiring one.
Wednesday we took Raptor to the vet - she's developed a lump on her top lip recently and given the scare we had with Quyn I wanted to get it looked at. The vet thinks it's probably just a small cyst, but will check it again when Raptor goes up for her second inoculation in three week's time. What she did find, though, was that the wee beast's teeth are in poor shape, one of them's rotted away and at least one more is heading the same way. She gave me an estimate for the work [wince - £179]. We need to think about it, and not just from the expense pov. Raptor's thirteen now, eating heartily, and not apparently in pain, and the risk of a general anaesthetic is greater the older the animal grows. On the other hand, I don't want her to spend her last years in pain...
Afterwards we ran up to Clifton to check out the antiques market (Kai looking for clocks) - only to find it isn't there any more (hasn't been for seven years, shows how often I get up to Clifton!)
But we checked out the Clifton Arcade - some astonishing jewellery, including a big, chunky-ornate silver-white and blue necklace that I fell for but didn't even bother asking the price of given how much everything else in the shop cost!
Then we trundled up to Leigh Woods and the Iron Age fort there - a very pleasant walk - and after dinner watched Starksy and Hutch (the film).
It's wonderful! Very funny, very clever and very nicely slashy. It's obviously a parody right from the start, and for a while - comedy notwithstanding - I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but about a third of the way through I found I'd stopped comparing it to the original series and was thoroughly enjoying it for itself. Not often that happens! The characters are excellent, and
I like the chemistry between them. I would love there to be a sequel (or even a series!) though I doubt it'll happen, unfortunately...
Definitely one to put on the 'must-buy' list (when the price drops a little!)
Tomorrow it's another early start down to Devon, to Dartmoor...
Labels: days out, films, holiday
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 12:30 am
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