10 Apr 2024

Hello To All,

The first the travel blog of the two that I’ll probably get around to doing, but I hope to regularly update you fine people as much as possible.

So where do I start…I arrive without a hitch and got the Class A drugs through without a problem  ( That’s a english joke just in case there are any Canadian Customs officials randomly logged on to this) and was greeted by Diane and Keith, who are the zoo owners at the airport, and show the site s of Ottawa which actually involved going to a Hockey bar and watching the Ottawa Senators hockey game on the big screen with every single other person in Ottawa. You think football is big in England…you should see hockey in Canada…Oh My God!! They eat, sleep and breathe it. Anyhow on Saturday morning I had the guided tour of the zoo, which was a slow process as I kept dissapearing up to my waist in snow, and met the tigers, lions, jaguars, wolves, monkeys, lynxs, snow leopards, donkeys, zebras, antelopes, buffalos, babooon (who has a pet cat all of his own and nobody is allowed to touch it or you are blacklisted and he will hold a grudge forever against you…true story) and a plethora of mant other lovely animals. You really don’t get a sense of size of the big cats until one puts it paw against the cage and it’s not far away from the size of your head. The overriding feeling you get here is that all the animals are so happy, well looked after and content. I know what your thinking ” They would be so much happier in the wild ” , but until humans stop being superior arseholes, these place are the only chance we have of continuing to see and breed this amazing creatures. O.K that’s my dreadlock wearing, lentil eating, tie me to a tree because I’m not going anywhere Man!, smelly conservationist rant done. Won’t happen again I promise.

Anyhow I’ve got myself a one bedroom flat, whick I move in to in a few weeks,  and other bits and peices sorted so I’m nearly all settled and once the snow melts away a bit I can get started on helping to repair the Zoo for opening time in 5 weeks roughly. I’ve also found out that when it’s open you assigned a area, ie Africa, North America. and have to do a 10 minute talk everyday to a large group of people. Oh Goody Gumdrops! Not crapping myself already at all. Hoping I can get a understanding going with the animals so they can work the crowd a bit and take the heat off me.

That’s all from me for a bit and I will update you hopefully soon.

Take care.

James

Posted from Canada:

posted Thursday April 2024