"You've got a lovely job!"

Several people said this to me this week, when I was in the first enclosure, and they had just come in. I was busy scooping sheep poop, so I know what they meant. But in fact, yes, I do have a lovely job! I am now looking forward to Sundays, which come around quite quickly. I may have been scooping, but it's not such an offensive job, and the sheep were a bit closer this time.  I responded in various ways to the public, but always with a smile and a positive answer.

MOTs done here
I think I'm quite slow at some things, however, and worry that I'm taking too long. Mind you, they always have to think up a task for us, so maybe nothing needs rushing. I was using 2 shovels this time, which was a better scooping technique (I'm learning), but by the end of the morning both hands were absolutely aching. Either I was holding the shovels funny, or it was just building up my muscles. Either way, I thought I would not be able to scoop much longer. The sun was out as well and I felt a bit funny by mid-morning. A cup of tea and a twix really helped. Back to scooping, and I watched a steady stream of visitors entering, all carrying boxes. In them were tortoises of various sizes. The Centre was holding a Tortoise MOT day, where a tortoise expert checked over people's pets and gave them advice. I saw a few tortoises of varying sizes peaking out of the boxes. I had no idea there were that many tortoises around - as I understand you can no longer buy them.

After doing the sheep, it was on to the sitatunga again. This week the male mouflon was in the field that you have to go through to get to the sitatunga. I waited a while because he was watching me and I did not want to be charged! I decided to go for it and made it quite safely into the other field. The male sitatunga seemed to be getting braver, and came a little closer to me than before. I found it harder to scoop in the sitatunga pen, as there is a lot of mud on the side, so I could not scoop up half a ton of mud as well. I hope it was ok.
It was a busy day again at the centre, especially with the tortoises, and while I was on lunch, someone asked me if I enjoyed working there.

People kept asking (ok, two people asked), where the aquarium was - but the fish have actually been replaced by the new tamarind centre. I had started the day by cleaning the tamarind glass - I'm not that great at cleaning glass yet, but years of watching the window cleaners from the bus stop, doing Bearwood High Street, should have given me some clues.


Afternoon
In the afternoon I did a small bit of fence painting, with Amy and Ariane. This involved braving the goose pen to get to the shed to get the paint. Luckily Sid was busy hissing at the public, so I ran in, and ran out again with the paint. The girls had done most of it and had got paint on their faces, not sure how! When we'd finished, we went round to the rodent house, which is nearly finished, and Les thought of some new jobs for us.

Sam asked if I could water the plants in the sacred Ibis enclosure - she advised me that they get spooked easily which they did - there are 6 of them (I counted 7 so I was a bit worried one had escaped!) and they were flying over my head, flapping. I gave the plants some water and made sure I locked up after them. There was minor excitement when a police helicopter flew over and landed in the park. Not sure what was happening.

We ended the day by putting the peacock, turkey, rabbit and guinea pigs away. We also bravely went over to put Sid away - he clearly did not think it was bed time - it did feel early, as the sun was out again. Ariane took two sticks, and I found one too, and we guided him into the shed. He kicked up an awful noise when we shut the door. We left the guinea pigs until last, because there had been lots of people there looking at them. They are so funny how they trot in to their house, but one or two tried to hide under the houses!