Part 6 of Giraffe Riders.
Part 5 of the Giraffe Riders series.
Part 4 of the still inexplicable Giraffe Riders.
[Note: This one is especially inexplicable, because AZ asked for it specifically. Blame him, not me.]
Part 3 of the astonishing Giraffe Riders. To be continued.
Part 2 of the whimsical series Giraffe Riders! To be continued.
Giraffe Riders! Part 1.
Welcome to my latest fit of whimsy, o long suffering readers. I’ve been studying giraffes (as you may know) for weeks, and here’s the first installment. To be continued! Thanks to AZ for inspiration for this idea.
This is what happened to me at the Cotswold Wildlife Park at the weekend while standing on the raised giraffe-viewing platform. The sheer magical magnificence of it was spoilt only by the lively argument I was having with another visitor over whether one was permitted to pet the giraffes. Ironically, I was the one maintaining that one shouldn’t, and so I was under strong moral obligation not to. Though I did want to, very much indeed.
I clearly remember a book from my early school-days called “Nobody Listens to Andrew”, with the leitmotif “There’s a BEAR in my bedroom!” (which all the adults ignore, of course.) I strongly empathised with that Andrew. You can still buy that book, I find.
On a hill on the edge of the town of Faringdon in Oxfordshire, England, there is a folly tower erected in 1935 for the somewhat eccentric Lord Berners, famous for, amongst other things, dyeing pigeons in different colours. The folly carries a notice “Do not feed the giraffes” several metres above the ground on one side, but the only giraffe we saw was the one that sneaked into my quick sketch.
Thanks to grj for the house party and the walk to the folly on Sunday.
It turns out that I made a mistake. The “Newt Rhino” I posted earlier may in fact have been a Rhino Newt. This one is the real Newt Rhino. I hope. I’m sorry for any confusion or inconvenience I may have caused.
This is exciting, because it turns out that the Newt Rhino is extremely abundant, possibly the most abundant animal there is. However, they are elusive and scientists can’t even agree about their mass yet.
I’m hoping to find out even more at a University of Oxford seminar next week by Dr. Antonin Vacheret. The title is “Neutrino, the invisible messenger” – I wonder if they’ve spotted their spelling mistake.