today we went to the ZOO

We could not go to site and get me a weekend sorting out lost property in advance of the event, because potential site weekend got cancelled on account of All The Vehicles Broke so Nothing Is Where It Needs To Be, but we'd made arrangements to collect a new gazebo from near site on our way there. And they didn't want to keep it hanging around even longer before we picked the damn thing up.

... site is also near Whipsnade.

We got off to a fairly late start so only managed about 90 minutes in the zoo, but while there WE SAW: a tiger! Visayan warty piglets! the elephants, including a wee elephant, who was wearing a bracelet, because they're preparing to move two of the herd to a different zoo! to this end, some impressively reinforced ISO shipping containers! new-to-us: a magpie goose! a lesser rhea! AND THEN, having paused to change which mobility aids I was using: glimpsed a Grévy's zebra and also a bison. The Bears, outdoors, eating grass and fighting newspaper and generally looking extremely huggable! BOTH wolverines, one of which was extremely asleep on a log and the other of which was extremely bouncy! the penguins feat. A ROCKHOPPER EGG as well of course as the eider. the various free-roaming small mammals. the bongo in all its fantastic glacé icing-striped glory. the white rhinos, including A VERY SLEEPY BABY who, while we were watching, roused itself sufficient to resume suckling Complete With Sound Effects, and also some very sleepy adults, one of whom was Extremely Snoring. brief swing by the giraffe house just to poke our heads around the door; three adults and The Baby busy browsing. the OTTERS were actually out and visible!

Absolutely delightful bonus outing.