Jersey Zoo

Happy Memories

Jersey Zoo was the brainchild of conservationist and author Gerald Durrell.  Set up around GD’s home of Les Augres Manor in Jersey, the Wildlife Trust today encompasses 25 acres of parkland.  Gerald Durrell was an early pioneer of the idea of conservation and I have very happy memories of working for the Trust - for the Trust Secretary, Zoo Director and occasionally for ‘Mr D’ as he was affectionately known by us.  It was a wonderful place to work - take a look at my office (in a wing of this beautiful granite building, to the right of this photo).  I think you’ll agree - a pretty nice place to spend my time.  

Les Augres Manor

My working day was always interesting, starting with a walk down through the parkland from the staff car park.  Flocks of Hawaiian Geese didn’t like our presence first thing in the morning and if you’ve ever heard tales of geese being used to guard airfields I can tell you that, yes, they do make ferocious guards.  Sometimes it was hard to tell who was the more endangered – us or the geese!   

The beautiful old granite arch (below) leads through to the courtyard you saw above, so that if you went through that little arch and turned immediately right you’d be going into the staff office area.

Why am I telling you this? Because you can see how very close we were to where the orang utans were housed at the time - an enclosure that adjoined this granite building on the left. 

One day I was working in the office alone over the lunch hour when a panicked call came through that the orangs were breaking out of their enclosure.  This wasn’t the first time that it had happened, but it was the first time for me …all alone in the office.  Orangs are extremely intelligent creatures and ours had been known to collect pieces of wood and stones to use as tools to aid their breakout.  The news on this day was that they were bashing at the safety glass with one of the branches in their enclosure, and alarmingly were making progress – the glass had begun to crack.  The voice at the other end was frantic and insistent that I should do something about it …like NOW. 

I’m not the bravest person on the face of the earth and I can tell you that my heart was racing.  The Public were in danger - what should I do?!  I felt that it was ultimately my responsibility to keep Jo Public from harm and I can’t believe I even thought of it now but yes, I did actually toy with the idea of racing out the back door (my Superwoman cape flapping in the wind) and talking calmly to the rioting orangs, in the vain hope of calming them down. (?!)  Orangs, as you probably know, are predominantly very docile, mainly fruit-eating creatures, but like other great apes have the ability to tear a man limb from limb if they feel threatened.  I suddenly pictured an enraged fully grown male coming at me at speed, teeth glinting, and saw sense.

I shut the office doors (!) and placed a series of frantic phone calls until I discovered the whereabouts of the Curator of Great Apes.  As he lived within minutes of the Zoo he was there in a flash and did whatever it was that he had to do.  Emergency averted, no harm done.  Of course by the time everyone came back from their lunch the office doors were all open again and I had a tale to tell, no doubt sounding very brave and entirely in control of the situation!

Nowadays the orangs have an enormous new area, with its own moat and a bridge that allows them to cross over to the warmth of their indoor accommodation.  There have been so many changes, so many improvements to the Zoo in the years since I worked there and I’m so proud to have played even a small part in their development and ongoing success.

Like many charities, this recession has caused a significant blip in funds for the Trust as visitor numbers have fallen and they have recently been forced to lay off staff, with talk of maybe even having to reduce their vital work conserving some of our planet’s most vulnerable species.  The Durell Conservation Trust, as they are known today, has always been a world leader in the field of animal conservation and have always made Mr D’s original message clear: The best news would be if they were no longer needed – if the world’s animal populations were finally safe from extinction.  If you’d like to help them continue their work, you can donate, adopt and animal or join the Trust by visiting their official site here. 

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Animal photos were purchased from iStock (because I’m generally lousy at capturing good wildlife images), the photo of Mr Durrell is from the Durrell Org website.  Otherwise, all images are my own and are registered with

Posted for Sunday In My City, hosted by Unknown Mami.

Cafe Americaine – l’Amour

♫  Je sais pas qu’est ce que c’est.
Non je veux pas discuter.
Peut etre c’est l’amour. 
L’amour toujours…   ♫

 

I don’t know what it is.
No, I don’t want to argue.
Maybe it’s love.
Love always and forever…

The catchy refrain from this song has been haunting me yesterday and today.  Maybe it’s because Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, maybe it’s because thoughts of holidays in France are on my mind right now.  Either way, here it is – a sweet way to start the weekend. 

C is for Camellia …and …Cabbage

This is one of my favourite flowers, partly because it blooms here in winter when all else is zapped by the cold.  Tea, or Char,  (which I also love) comes from the young and tender leaves of a variety of camellia – camellia sinensis.  “Not many people know that”. 

‘Little Beacon’

And … just for fun: C is also for ‘Cabbage’, in this case a ‘Cabbage with Attitude’.

Posted for The ABC Project, hosted and created by Denise Nesbitt at  Mrs Nesbitt’s Space

The ticking biological clock rings time

Here’s a piece of vital information that all young women should become privy to if they are to make informed decisions about their lives.

There has been a perception in recent years that ‘anytime when I’m ready’ will do as far as family planning is concerned but a recent study has shown that Mother Nature doesn’t necessarily hold the same view.

Data collated by the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh University, relating to a study of women in the UK, Europe and the US suggests that fertility in human females dramatically trails off well before what had previously been perceived. According to this study, it seems that beyond the age of 30 the body has used up 90% of its ‘ovarian reserves’ and this may well explain why so many women are now having to resort to fertility treatments. To an extent the medical profession already had an idea of something similar over 25 years ago because to my great surprise, I was referred to as a ‘mature primagravida’ (a mature first-time mother).  I was not, as you might suspect, over 35 – I was only just in my late 20s.  

Maybe it’s time to place equal emphasis on the ticking biological clock when girls are deciding what path to take in life and that begs the question:  Can we really ‘have it all’ as women?  I’d like to think so, but can you imagine the radical changes that would be required in our societies in order to make both family and career an easier and safer bet?

B is for Blue

The beautiful blue of Lake Tahoe, USA.

‘Into The Blue’

Posted for The ABC Project, hosted and created by Denise Nesbitt at  Mrs Nesbitt’s Space

Myriad Monday

It’s not Friday so this can’t be ‘Fragmented’ and yet I have several small and random thoughts to share. (Many would say all my thoughts are small and random).  Just for today then, this is ‘Myriad Monday’:

1. Word verification on ‘Comments’ is driving me up the ferkin wall.  I know this is something that Yaya has referred to before and I have to agree.  It is a serious pain in the proverbials because it is not just once, not twice but over and over at just about every Blogger site I visit (which number quite a few).  Worse still are the days (like today) when for some reason it fails, over and over and over.  I mean, come on folks my life is ebbing away here!

2. I seriously dislike Smart Alecs.  In fact it’s a quick way to wind me up.  I came across one today of the ‘State The Bleeding Obvious’ breed.  I wanted to poke them in the eye and wipe that supercilious smile off their face.

3. Visiting other websites and leaving meaningful comments takes me for ever.  I’m wondering how on earth people like Joanna and UnknownMami (who have many, many more readers and commenters than I) manage to keep up.  Either I am slow in thought and so take too long to put my sentences together, or they have soopa doopa bionic computer brains that work at breakneck speed.  Either way, I feel inferior.

4. My Google Reader grows and shrinks again like the phases of the moon.  I come across people who interest me and I add them.  Periodically I remove people who can’t be bothered to leave a ‘calling card’ at my place.  Call it a puerile ’tit for tat’ reaction if you like … but then you’d have to comment here, so I’d be all over your site in a minute.

5. What was up with WordPress yesterday?  If you commented here and it hasn’t shown up it’s not because I took umbrage and deleted you.  WordPress did that all on its own,  and for why?  I know not.  

6. Something that Jane has referred to – Spam.  Yes I too hold on to some of them because they make me childishly snicker. (You know what they say:  Small things amuse small minds).   Examples currently languishing on my dashboard include one of over 1000 words (as mentioned to Jane) and then there are  these, both of which were apparently prompted by my post on Christmas Health and Safety Considerations:

Great post. I got some very useful information from it. I have been fighting an addiction myself for much of my life, so what you wrote really meant a lot to me. Take it one day at a time!

And

Exceptional post. My family and I were just talking about this the other night. Also your site looks nice on my old palm treo. And thats rare. Nice work. 

Gosh if that’s what they talk about in their house it must be a real barrel barrel of laughs.

7. Much of this post is dangerously close to plagiarism.  To those I’m plagiariririrising, please bear in mind that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

8. I use too many clichés and pat phrases.  Does this mean that I don’t have an original bone in my body? 

Granite cliffs rise out of the ocean

Much of Jersey is made up of granite, in places tinted a pretty rose pink. On the north coast (this photo) granite cliffs rise at the highest point to in excess of 400ft – the island then gradually sloping southwards like a giant patio lounger, catching the warmth of the sun.

On this day clouds were casting shadows over the cliffs but as they moved outcrops of rock were illuminated as if by giant spotlights.

(The tower is a radio transmitter – a necessary evil in this otherwise fairly isolated island).

Posted for Unknown Mami’s ‘Sundays In My City’. Why not join in and show us where you live?

A is for Abalone

Part of a barnacle encrusted abalone shell and a discarded coppery Sea Grape leaf.  Collage by, and the creation of a talented Mother Nature.

Posted for The ABC Project, hosted and created by Denise Nesbitt at  Mrs Nesbitt’s Space

Hearts and Flowers

It’s that time of year again – when I order a few new bits for the house.  Something about the approach of spring in the not too distant future puts me in the frame of mind to look at what we have, what needs replacing and how I could ring a few changes. 

I spent some time this morning looking at the Cox and Cox site and picked out some very pretty fripperies to cheer things up around here for this new year.  It all came to a fairly nominal amount and I was about to place my order when I checked the total again.  Hang on, how much?  They were proposing to charge me in excess of 60% of the cost of the actual items for postage –  for small items of very little weight.  Ooo no…forget that.  Well now, that’s an hour of my time I’ll never get back again.

A bit frustrated that the fripperies will have to wait for another day, from another location, I headed on over to Amazon where I treated myself to a small ceramic knife.  It was, as expected, expensive but if it’s as good as I think it will be, I shall be woopdidoodling-it around the kitchen instead of cursing the fact that our knives are about as useful as a chocolate fire screen.  At the moment I sharpen my kitchen knives every time I use them but I never seem to get them sharp enough and they blunt down incredibly quickly. (Proof, I guess, that I just have cheap and nasty knives). I have a curious little gadget, called an iSlice, that is designed for cutting out newspaper and magazine clippings and although the tiny, tiny ceramic blade feels oh so innocent to the touch it slices like a hot knife through butter.  I have high hopes therefore for my new vegetable knife.

I also ordered us a small Thermos flask from Lakeland.  Our occasional weekend dates at the burger stand are fun and always accompanied by what they describe as ‘tea’ but I can tell you – it ain’t tea.  It’s a hot wet liquid and that is about all.   Last time we just threw it away and yet a hot cuppa after lunch, by the beach on a cold winter’s day should be just so wonderful and so comforting.  I don’t want to drink what my mother-in-law calls ‘la pisquinette‘ (sp???) any more so I’m going to make up a brew to bring with us.  Gosh we’re going to be quite the old fogies with our flask of hot tea by the beach.  I’m thinking that all we need to complete the picture are the Sunday papers and we can stay there for hours and hours, not talking to each other at all at all…just like the other old folks we see when we’re out!

So that’s it (the fun never stops around here), my home shopping is done for now : a Thermos flask and a ceramic knife – and there I was this morning, gearing up to buy pretty silver hearts and garlands of tiny crystal flowers!

Googly-eyed

Yay!  My daughter’s Kitchen Aid mixer arrived this morning.  I have no idea why on a Sunday as Sunday deliveries usually only happen here in the run-up to Christmas.  I’m pleased for her however as she had ordered it about 10 days ago and we were starting to get a little concerned.  Want to hear a funny thing?  Well it’s not funny at all actually, I just said that.  This mixer was bought as a result of cheques she’d been given at Christmas and she had initially looked in the local department store.  The basic model (which I have) was ridiculously expensive – beyond the money that she had available.  She looked on Amazon and was able to buy the model one up (the Artisan), but for £150 less than the basic model.  At this rate I think this local store will be another one going down the Swanee River and is it any wonder?  It’s hard to feel sad about this with such enormous differences in price – it does sound awfully like they’re fleecing the public.

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It was a ‘date day’ today – the date is a regularly scheduled trip to the dump.  As my husband unloaded stuff I watched people sorting their refuse into the various bins and spotted wood and loads of cardboard going into the ‘Non Recyclable’ skip.  Now I’m not putting it down to stupidity or laziness.  It’s more than possible that the perps hadn’t notice the cardboard crushing units a few yards away and the pile of wood around the corner.  Until you’ve been there several times it’s hard to get a handle on just where everything is and what is available. 

 It has become a constant cry of mine that this system we have here simply doesn’t represent (as my father would have said) ‘proper joined up thinking’.  It’s a bit chaotic at the dump, with people often walking with stuff piled high in their arms, behind and between manoeuvring cars.  It’s a disaster waiting to happen – and while it’s waiting to happen, waste gets tossed into the wrong bins.  Why oh why don’t they do like Florida – collect it all from a few basic bins at peoples’ houses and then sort it professionally at the dump?  Et voila! …Fewer cars on the road, efficient use of resources and correctly sorted waste.  (But then that’s too easy, isn’t it)?

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On our way there mi amore  had commented that a local politician had proposed shutting the little road that runs along the back of First Tower School, despite the traffic calming measures that seem to be working perfectly well and despite the fact that no child has been hurt.  I’d seen reference to this in the on-line version of our local paper and had read feed-back from the public, which overwhelmingly said that closing the road was a silly step too far and totally unnecessary.

There was a moment of silence in the car after I’d relayed the public’s reaction back to Alain, until I finished by saying:

 ’Which means now that the road closure will definitely go ahead!’

It was a joke that is in fact not a joke if you know how things operate around here because the truth is that States members appear to never read the local paper (despite the fact that it is a requirement that we plebeians do so).  If they do read it, they don’t seem to be influenced by public opinion at all because barmy decisions go ahead ‘regardless’.  It’s par for the course here and as a result the standing of all our local policians is, as on the UK mainland, at an all time low.  If there is a place on earth where politicians are regarded as the wise elders of society (as I think they should be), I wonder where it is?  I might like to live there.

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Right, so all that being said, what have I actually done today, apart from my date at the dump and my witty car-bound banter?  Well, I have continued sorting through my gazillions of photos - turfing out the excess and the dull and/or poor and applying keywords to those that remain.  Hence the wacky photo here.  That’s how I feel right now - pretty googly eyed and a little bit mentally frazzled. 

 And that is all I have to say.

This blog entry brought to you in lieu of ‘Sunday in my City’.   I hope to resume normal service next week.