On Bank Holiday Monday, the last day of August, Altaa and I went to London Zoo, just at the northern peak of Regent's Park, which was an enjoyable stroll through on a day when it seemed many people had headed for the beach, leaving London pleasantly under-populated in the parts we went.
The trip to this Zoo was my first one in maybe 15 years and Altaa's second ever visit to any zoo. Highlights were an azure peafowl from the Congo choosing to race Altaa up and down the length of its cage. She ran one way and it scampered through the undergrowth of its confinement and then she dashed the other. Back and forth it shadowed her, fascinated at keeping track of her and her alone. Also, towards sunset, the incredibly elongated shadow of a giraffe that ran to almost a quarter the length of its quadrangle. When the sun sinks below the horizon, the stretching of human forms on the pavement is interesting, but a giraffe's is, as you would expect, amazing. Sadly, from a visitor's point of view, the elephants had been moved - to be replaced with camels - to London Zoo's sister at Whipsnade where they would have more space. This was better for the elephants undoubtedly (so a good thing in general) since I had read that elephants in captivity die younger than their counterparts in the wild through depression at being unable to indulge their desire to roam. Overall, it was a Bank Holiday well spent.