Last weekend mum and I went on a coach trip to London. The Saturday we went shopping, I bought a few Christmas presents and tried on some silly hats:
A Collage of Me in Silly Hats (click for full size image)
Then we went to the hotel. It was a Holiday Inn and I was reasonably impressed. It was clean, had friendly staff and had everything we needed. Here are some photos:
A Collage of the Hotel (click for full size image)
The Sunday we were going to The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour and were well excited about. I’ll blog about Harry Potter Studio Tour and share photos in my next post.
I love this Comic Strip, which turns life and death into a love story. Sorry I can’t accredit it, as where it was shared on Facebook didn’t accredit the author/artist.
Unable to Credit Author/Artist.
3. Three The Pony #DancePonyDance Advert
This advert is great. To see a Pony dancing and Moon walking made my day:
4. Guardian Article – Pandering to the crowd: panda accused of faking pregnancy in bun fraud case
Ai Hin showed all the signs she was expecting but only wanted extra food and the trappings of celebrity, say keepers
Giant panda Ai Hin put on a ‘phantom pregnancy’, possibly because she wanted special treatment, her Chinese keepers say. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images
Hopes that tiny panda paws would be seen in the world’s first live-broadcast cub delivery have been dashed after Chinese experts suggested the “mother” may have been focusing more on extra bun rations than giving birth.
The slated star of the show, giant panda Ai Hin, had shown signs of pregnancy at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre, according to state news agency Xinhua.
A live broadcast of the event was planned but Xinhua said her “behaviours and physiological indexes returned to normal”, citing experts saying she experienced a “phantom pregnancy”.
The breeding centre, in China’s south-western province of Sichuan, commonly moves pandas that are thought to be pregnant into single rooms with air conditioning and around-the-clock care.
“They also receive more buns, fruits and bamboo, so some clever pandas have used this to their advantage to improve their quality of life,” Wu Kongju, an expert at the base told Xinhua.
Phantom pregnancy is said to be common among the endangered animals. Many continued to display pregnant behaviour after noticing the difference in treatment they received, Xinhua said.
Six-year-old Ai Hin showed reduced appetite, less mobility and a surge in hormones when her “pregnancy” was first detected, the news agency said, before further observations concluded it was fake.
The giant panda’s natural habitat is in the mountainous south-west of China. But they have a notoriously low reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors such as habitat loss.
China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild and another 300 held in captivity.
“Only 24% of females in captivity give birth, posing a serious threat to the survival of the species,” Xinhua said.
(From: The Guardian, Last Accessed: Tuesday 28th October 2014.)
I laughed aloud when I read this, thinking: That’s exactually what I would do. Anything to get special treatment and an extra bun. Gawd, aren’t animals clever?
5. A Beautiful Tree Home by Pagan Artist Annika Worth
I probably wouldn’t have discovered this beautiful drawing, which was was so alluring that I wanted to go and live there if it wasn’t for Facebook:
Image Credit: Annika Worth.
6. My Video: When Trying To Be Funny Goes Wrong
This is my video I created entitled: When Trying To Be Funny Goes Wrong. I think it’s quite funny for a number of reasons, mainly because it’s so bad and everything doesn’t go according to plan.
Last weekend a friend and I went to stay at the lovely Penrhos Cottage for some rest and relaxation. I’ve previously stayed at Penrhos Cottage, see my blog post: Mid-Wales, Part 1: The Lovely Penrhos Cottage. We spent the time catching up, enjoying nature, watching TV and reading books. It was great to have no schedule.
On the Saturday I took the opportunity to walk up into the hills and found a private garden with some miniature buildings. I hiked further up the hills and found some abandoned slate ruins. See some photos below:
Private Garden Miniature Buildings 1
Private Garden Miniature Buildings 2
Slate Ruins 1
Slate Ruins 2
On the Sunday we stopped off at Animalarium, Borth’s Zoo on our way home. Animalarium is a small Zoo that also takes in unwanted pets. You can really get close and interact with the animals at this Zoo. You can even buy pots of food and feed some of the animals. This animal interaction makes it an ideal place to take children. Throughout the day it had a number of free talks about some of the animals and some opportunities to see animals getting fed. My friend and I had an enjoyable time, here are some photos of the animals:
Animalarium: Lemur
Animalarium: Monkey 1
Animalarium: Monkey 2
Animalarium: Meerkats 1
Animalarium: Meerkats 2
Animalarium: Goat
Animalarium: Cat
Animalarium: Wallerby
Animalarium: Jaguar – Sunbathing.
Animalarium: Some sort of Bird
Animalarium: Calf
Animalarium: Pythons
Animalarium: Pythons Sign
Animalarium is a small Zoo and as such felt like a place that needs more financial support. My friend and I talked about maybe adopting an animal or two there, it’s something I certainly intend to do when money is less tight.
Hope you enjoyed the update and photos.
Blog soon,
Antony
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Sunday 28 September 2014
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Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.
Author of eight books.
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